Guardians Never Die
by Matteoarts
Summary: Three Guardians are said to have defended humanity and the Traveler in their most dire hour. A Hunter, of flesh and blood, torn from his past into the future. A Titan, of metal and circuit, searching for her true purpose and identity. And a Warlock, born of both Light and Dark, eager to prove herself to her comrades. This is their legend.
1. The Legend Begins

**GUARDIANS NEVER DIE**

Three Guardians are said to have defended humanity and the Traveler in their most dire hour. A Hunter, of flesh and blood, torn from his past into the future. A Titan, of metal and circuit, searching for her true purpose and identity. And a Warlock, born of both Light and Dark, eager to prove herself to her comrades. This is their legend.

* * *

 _ **"Legends are carved across history by the brave."**_

 _\- Grimoire of the Guardians_

 _There are many tales, told throughout the city that speak of Legendary Heroes, Guardians who stood out in history as the most adept_

 _warriors the light had ever had the pleasure of shining upon. The Hunter of flesh and blood, his memories bringing knowledge of the_

 _forgotten past. The Titan of metal and circuits, always searching for her purpose and identity. The Warlock born from light and_

 _darkness, always seeking to prove herself to her comrades. But every Legend has a beginning, and these heroes were no exception._

* * *

The scene ahead of the Ghost was that of tragedy, of panic. An old highway from the Golden Age, still packed and blocked with the cars of those who had attempted to escape the collapse, the end of civilization. As she flew closer, she could see that some still contained skeletons within them. One car held two skeletons, a male and female judging from their bone structure. Their skeletal hands still held each other in their final embrace before death. Giving a slight rotation of her rear half, she moved on. She had to stay focused.

As a Ghost of the Traveler, she had to find someone to be her partner, to take on the title of a Guardian. Someone dead, that is. Or she could search in the City, of course. There were plenty of live citizens hoping to have a chance at the recruitment process. The armies of the Fallen were not enough to deter people from their choice to fight back, but it was enough to bolster the courage of volunteers. It'd be easy to venture into the City and simply ask someone if they'd like to become a Guardian.

But she had a feeling. Ghosts were able to revive those who had enough light in them when they died, using said light of their souls to regenerate them. Nobody had been revived in quite a while though, it had been nearly a decade since the last one. Very few humans had much light within them to begin with, and it took a soul mostly pure of heart in order to generate enough light to be revived, especially with how long it'd been since the collapse and the rate of deterioration for light.

However, when someone with enough light in them WAS revived, and then proceeded to become a Guardian, they usually became the best ones. They learned how to harness the power of the light quicker, how to repel the darkness better, and they were ferocious fighters, always leading the charge on Fallen enemies and opponents of the light. That's what the Ghost wanted, to be the Ghost of someone who would go on to be the best Guardian that there could be. She wanted to be the Ghost that found the next leader of the Vanguards, or something similar.

Unfortunately, it looked like there wasn't much to look at here. Quite a few skeletons, but none had nearly enough internal light to be revived. With an exasperated sigh, she turned to leave, planning to head back to the wall. With some luck, she'd be able to evade the Fallen Pirates, and manage to not be humiliated when she returned without an accompanying Guardian. Everyone had said that it'd be a fool's gambit to think that anymore dead could be revived from the Golden Age, and it looks like they'd been right-

Suddenly, she felt something. It was a warm feeling, as though she'd suddenly floated into a ray of sunshine. She looked around, but couldn't see anything. Finally, she aimed her eye at the ground, and immediately her sensors overloaded. The body and bones had completely disappeared from years of erosion and decomposition, but a soul's presence was still there, burning bright with light. Quite a lot of light, actually. This was the break she'd been hoping for. The Ghost prepared to perform a revival, full of excitement. This individual had obviously been dead for quite a while, and still had managed to retain an enormous amount of light within them. They were bound to be destined for greatness, they had to be!

The Ghost made ready to generate a new body out of the light surrounding the soul, and some extra that she'd stored just in case. Focusing her energy on the soul, she concentrated on harnessing all of her light towards the revival. A blue light began to emanate from the air, and she split into a spherical form to expand the radius of the light a bit. The light grew brighter and brighter, until it looked almost white rather than blue.

Suddenly there was a flash, and a human lay on the ground in front of her, wearing a black undersuit and pads of basic armor she'd generated from the surrounding spinmetal. He was a male, likely around twenty years old. This was a good sign, younger usually meant fitter, more physically adequate bodies. She'd have to get him back to the City as fast as possible, or risk him dying again from the Fallen pirates. He began to stir slightly, giving a soft grunt, and she waited for him to wake up.

* * *

 _ **"Our old worlds have grown feral - rabid beasts with teeth of rust and ruin. But such beasts are meant to be tamed. Or broken."**_

 _\- Grimoire of the Hunters_

 _Hunters stalk the wilderness beyond the City, harnessing the Light to reclaim the secrets of our lost worlds. They are daring scouts_

 _and stealthy killers, expert with knives and precision weapons. Hunters blaze their own trails and write their own laws._

* * *

Ow. His head hurt. His arms hurt. His legs hurt. Everything just… hurt. All over, he felt as though his skin had been burned, like he'd stood in the sun too long. But as quickly as the pain had come, it began to fade away. It was replaced with a cool feeling of a breeze on his skin. He was wearing something, he could feel it tight on his body. Some kind of skintight suit. Curious, he wanted to see what the situation was. Ignoring the blinding light of the sun on his eyelids, he forced them open. There was nothing but bright light for a moment, and then his vision began to adjust. He could see trees and grass, he was outside. There were a few rocks nearby and-

He saw the cars. Destroyed, burnt to rubble, rusting away. Hundreds of them. Why were there so many cars that looked so… old? What happened? Where was he-

Things came rushing back to him, flashes of memory. An enormous white orb, the Mars discovery. The technological advances, scientific breakthroughs, human lifespans tripling. He saw it all as it came back to him, along with personal memories. His family, the twins and his parents. His trip to Russia, to meet with a friend of his to go trekking across the country. And he was-

"Guardian?" He heard a voice, feminine, and somewhat robotic sounding. "Eyes up Guardian!"

What was this thing she kept calling him? A Guardian? He turned his head to face the voice, and jumped a little. Hovering in front of him was a polygonal, metallic… thing. It wash't a robot, but it wasn't organic either. The front looked somewhat like a star, with four points. When it turned, he could see that there was a reverse side to this thing as well, making it symmetrical. Whatever it was, it was sentient.

"It worked… you're alive!" The floating object sounded giddy, as though it were happy. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. He furrowed his eyebrows, and tried again.

"He…hello?"

"Oh good, you can talk." Now the object sounded relieved. He didn't like not knowing what was going on.

"Who are you?"

It turned its blue eye to face him, and rotated its polygonal segments. "I'm a Ghost. Actually, now, I'm your Ghost." It moved a little in the air, still giving off the vibe of just being given a present. "You've been dead a long time, so you're gonna see a lot of things that you won't understand." He looked down at his hands, and flexed them, to make sure they were working. Dead? He couldn't have been dead. It was only a few moments ago that'd he'd been driving down the road towards the highway exit when… when…

The Ghost looked at him, examining him like a child. "Are you alright?" it asked curiously.

"There was another car," he said aloud, helping his mind remember the details. "It stopped in front of me, I was forced to pull over. They took me out of the car, and told me they wanted my tech. I gave it to them, all of it. And then…"

The Ghost now looked eager for more details. "And then?"

He shrank a little, remembering clearly. "And then they stabbed me anyway, and threw my body onto the side of the road. I watched them steal my car and drive away as I… died." He said the last word carefully, as though saying it too recklessly would cause him to do exactly that. He turned to look at the Ghost. "I guess I did die. But how am I back then? Is this the afterlife, or have we found a cure for death now?"

The Ghost spun its segments around the spherical blue orb that connected all of it together. "Not exactly a cure, but… I can do something pretty close. Kind of a special case here though, you're the only one I've been able to revive." He looked around the landscape, and began to appreciate the desolateness of it. He saw the bones of those who had fallen, some still in their cars. He shivered a little.

The Ghost eyed him again. "Do you have a name?" He looked at it, confused. Then he realized what it was asking. He struggled to remember.

"I'm uh…" It was just out of reach, like a buoy in an stormy ocean. Suddenly it flashed in his mind, and he held onto it like one would a life preserver. "Matt," he said. "My name is Matt." The Ghost moved a little in the gain of this new knowledge. "What's _your_ name?" he asked it.

It flew back a foot, stunned in light of the question. "Well, I… I'm a Ghost, I don't really have a name. You can give me one if you'd like. You are my Guardian, after all."

His eyebrows came together again, scrutinizing this term. "What is it you keep calling me? A Guardian? What is that?" Almost on cue, an animalistic roar sounded off in the distance. It didn't sound too close, but it didn't sound far off either. Matt had no clue what could make that noise, but he didn't want to find out.

Apparently the Ghost had the same idea. "I'll explain later, but for now, we need to get you back to the City. To do that, we're gonna need a ship. We are near the Cosmodrome after all, so there should be some kind of ship in there. Probably old though, likely a relic at this point." Matt had no idea when a cosmodrome had been built here, but the Ghost seemed to know what it was doing. It did make him wonder though, how long had he been dead?

The Ghost suddenly disappeared in a flash of blue light. A blue grid materialized itself around Matt's head, and turned solid into a helmet. "Don't worry, I'm still with you. I've used some of the surrounding spinmetal to build most of your suit. Quickly, we need to get inside the wall." He didn't know what spinmetal was, but he could see the wall clear as day. It had to be twelve stories high, and he could see that the structure continued for miles. Spying an open door with a staircase roughly 200 yards in front of him, he began to run towards it, meandering through the tight spaces of the jammed cars.

"So," he began, attempting to make conversation, "I can name you, you said?"

"If you'd like," said its voice in his head. It seemed to come straight from his mind. It still sounded feminine though. Maybe it was a girl?

"Okay, so I need to stop thinking of you as an 'it', and more as a she. You sound like a girl."

The voice came back, this time sounding a bit short. "Well, I'd hope so. I _am_ female, after all."

Excellent, he'd guessed right. "So a ghost… ghost like a banshee, or like, a holy ghost, from the bible?"

It was becoming impatient with his banter. "I am a Ghost, and I used the power of the light to bring you back from the dead. Whatever category that falls in."

"Holy ghost it is then…" he muttered. He walked through the building, his footsteps impacting against the metal floor. "I can think of a few things off the bat, in that case. There's Angel, though I think that's a bit cliché. Mary, mother of Jesus, but that sounds a bit too… human for you I guess."

The Ghost said nothing, listening to him. "So that leaves me with Seraph, or Gabriel, and Gabriel doesn't sound too feminine."

"The first one," said the Ghost. "What was it again?"

"Seraph?" he asked. "It's the highest in the hierarchy of angels. You like that?"

It was silent for a moment, and then responded, "Yes, I do. You may call me Seraph." "

Excellent, now I can call you something other than just 'Ghost'," he said.

Matt stepped into an open room. Shadows assaulted him, blinding him to anything else in there. He could hear a few clangs as something metal in the darkness above fell below into the void. "Fallen thrive in the dark, we won't. I need to find us more light." Seraph instantly materialized in front of him, and began to emit a white glow, like a flashlight. She flew off into the distance, and Matt saw that the chamber was at least a few hundred feet in length, with maybe a depth of forty feet below him and sixty feet above him from his balcony. He watched as she stopped at a panel on a wall, and a blue beam blazed from her center. It hit the panel, and he assumed it was messing with the power source. Sure enough, the large lights overhead came on, and illuminated a terrifying scene.

Creatures with four arms hung from the ceiling, on pillars in the chamber, and from just about everywhere else in the building. They wore red garments, and shouted in a foreign tongue. There were so many, he couldn't even hope to count them all. He glanced back to Seraph, and saw two flying drones chasing her through the air.

"Fallen!" she cried. He would have usually retorted with something sarcastic due to the obviousness of her statement, but he still remained in awe at the sheer number of them. Seraph flew down to him, having lost the two drones. "Quick, through here! I can see a rifle on the floor!"

She opened a mechanical door that slid upward into the ceiling. He slid under it and saw the rifle she was talking about. He picked it up, and felt the weight of it, bracing himself to fire. It wasn't unlike the automatic rifles he'd had experience with in his time, and he was used to how it felt. He sprinted through the corridors, frantically trying to reach an exit.

Two of the fallen jumped in front of him. He shouldered the rifle, and pulled the trigger. Luckily there were still bullets in the magazine. The projectiles ripped through their bodies, and they fell with consecutive thumps. Another at the end of the hallway attempted to fire on him. This one was missing its two bottom arms, with stumps instead and little caps over the severed limbs. Aiming again, he let off a few shots. The Fallen's head exploded in a shower of white, with some ethereal vapor trailing from the hole in it's neck. The body slumped to the ground, and did not move. Stepping over the corpse, Matt continued on.

It took him a while, but managing to evade most of the Fallen required some effort. He finally reached the exit through a broken wall in a large tunnel. He stepped out into the sun again, and saw that it was beginning to set. "Alright Seraph, where's this ship of ours?"

A pulsing green light emitted itself on his helmet's HUD, until Seraph said, "Through that building over there. I'm detecting low levels of energy from a vessel. It's not gonna be enough to break orbit, but it can get us to the City." A grey objective marker appeared on his screen near the doorway of the building. Once again, he entered a full sprint, only pausing to acknowledge a red flare that shot into the sky.

"What's that?"

"A signal," replied Seraph. "The Fallen are pirates. Any kind of technology they can get their hands on, including me, is a profit for them."

He smiled. "Well, don't worry. They'd have to get through me first."

Suddenly the air in the sky began to ripple as light bent around it, and what was presumably a Fallen ship appeared in the air. "I know! That's what I'm afraid of!" exclaimed Seraph, now with worry in her voice. "Move!"

Not needing to be told twice, he continued to run towards the building. He cleared the doorway, and entered a hallway that took him to a large room. The floor was almost completely dirt, but sure enough, a space-faring ship was entangled in some wires. He recognized the model too.

Seraph appeared. "We're lucky the Fallen haven't completely picked it clean, this thing's ancient already. It's-"

"An Arcadia Class Jumpship," Matt finished.

Seraph spun quickly in place to stare at him, alarmed at something. "You know this model?!"

A roar echoed from behind them as the Fallen began to enter the building, and cut their conversation short.

"Seraph, if you're gonna do something, do it now!" He could see her disappear, and begin to power the ship up. Blue lights winked on along the sides, and an orange glow emitted from the engines. The wires holding it began to snap, and suddenly it was free.

"Bringing you in now," he heard Seraph say. Turning, he saw two of the four armed Fallen about twenty feet behind him, having just entered the room. Behind them stood a massive one, standing around nine feet high, and looking tougher than a tank. This one's armor was different, and it held a mean looking cannon in its hands.

Just as it growled at him, he saw blue grid lights glow around him, and the next thing he saw was the interior of the ship. "Hang tight!" Seraph said over the comms. The ship raised itself out of the crumbling building, and blasted off without a second glance at the Fallen behind them.

* * *

 _ **"Strive for honor. Stand for hope."**_

 _\- Grimoire of the Titans_

 _Titans are warriors - heroic defenders of the Light, channeling the gifts of the Traveler to wage war on the Darkness. Steadfast and_

 _sure, Titans face any challenge head-on, blunt force instruments of the Traveler's will._

* * *

A Ghost floated through the City outskirts. Just on the boundary of the Traveler's protection, spinmetal was abundant. It was used for crafting weaponry, armor, and a handful of other useful items. Fortunately the material was so plentiful that the City never truly had a shortage, and they took advantage of the fact. They sent out inactive Ghosts, Ghosts without a Guardian, to harvest the plants and bring them back to the tower for supplies.

This particular Ghost was not alone, and a few other Ghosts could be seen nearby, absorbing the spinmetal growing out of just about any metal source available, wreckage from crashed vessels, spent ammunition casing, even the shell of a long since deactivated missile. He was nearly full on his quota, and would only need to find a few more specimens before beginning his journey back to the City. He detected a large quantity a few yards to his right next to a run down shack, and promptly hovered over. The plant was somewhat thick, and he began to harvest it in large amounts. Suddenly, he stopped.

After absorbing some of the spinmetal, he was able to make out the shape of a face, metallic and rusting. Clearing away more of the spinmetal, he eventually discovered an entire body that had been hidden behind the foliage. It's limbs were robotic, composed of metal sheets and circuits. It was definitely an Exo, though why an Exo was so far out here, he had no idea. What was more, he saw that it was a female model. Large chunks of vital components in the torso were missing, and chunks of the head looked as though they'd been completely blown off. The spinmetal grew from inside the body, wrapping around machinery and puncturing outer seals until it reached the sunlight. The Ghost detected something else as well; light. This Exo was definitely not a stranger to the Traveler, and though he did have a mission, he couldn't just leave it out here.

"What's going on over there?" One of the other Ghosts had called out, and began to make its way towards him.

"I found an old Exo," the first Ghost replied, "I'm going to try to revive it."

"Don't be daft," scolded the second. "We don't have nearly enough components to even get that hunk of machinery to keep functioning, should you manage to revive it in the first place. Exos don't just rely on light, you know. It'd probably fall apart as soon as it was reborn." The Ghost flew back to its business, leaving the first to realize it was right, that they didn't have any kind of components they could use to replace the damaged ones inside, or any supplies to repair the metal sheets on the outside.

He sadly began to float away, until he realized that he DID have resources available to him. He would be disobeying his current mission, but an exception could perhaps be made this once for the exchange of a new Guardian. He retreated back to the Exo body and absorbed the rest of the spinmetal inside, until not one circuit was entangled in the leaves. Then, he began the process to revive the Exo.

"What are you doing?!" he heard the Ghost from earlier yelp. He paid it no mind, and concentrated on using the light of the Exo to revive the life within it.

He could see lights start to glow on various electronic lights throughout the "skin", but they wouldn't be able to be sustained without proper vital components. Then came the second phase of his attempt, using the spinmetal he'd harvested from today to begin building new working components, and materialize them within the skeletal body. The lights began to wink out, and then came back brighter than before. He continued to dissolve the damaged circuits inside, and immediately replace them with brand new ones. His body expanded, allowing a larger radius of his light to shine on the Exo.

The glow around the Exo grew brighter, until it stopped and began to fade. The "skin" lights remained on, and he could see that it was activated. He heard the sound of rusty metal grating against more rusty metal, and he moved in to dissolve what rust he could from the metal shell. Eventually he had removed most of what he could, and the inorganic being began to move.

She raised herself up on one knee, and from a kneeling position, moved into a standing pose. She glanced around, and saw the Ghost hovering around her. He made note of her appearance. Though the rusty red color still added a small filter to most of her body, he could see that her original color had been a mixture of white and silver, with white covering most of the body including all of the head, and silver adding in secondary highlights along the body, arms, and legs. Her eyes were a piercing cool blue, with small auras of light emitting from the electronic lenses.

She made a movement with her mouth as though to speak, but nothing came out of her vocal speakers except garbled white noise. "Oops, my bad," said the Ghost apologetically, and he moved in to scan her vocal processors and clean out the gunk that had accumulated on them, muffling her speech. When all of the resin had been cleared, he flew back, and looked expectantly at her again. She made another attempt.

"Tha- thank you."

The ghost closed his eye and angled himself slightly, akin to a bow. The other Ghosts simply looked on in amazement. "It was my pleasure, Guardian."

Her eyes blinked a few times, attempting to focus on him. "Guardian? Is that my name?"

The floating polyhedron chuckled ever so slightly. "No, it's what you are. It's more of a title than a name, a job."

"A job? What kind of job?"

"Why, to protect the City and its people, of course! To use the light of the Traveler to fight against the Darkness!"

The Ghost stared into her face, and saw no sign of recognition. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know about any of that. All I remember is-" She stopped, and grew wide eyed. "I- I can't remember! I don't remember anything, where I am, what I was doing, who-" Now she sounded frightened. "I don't even know who _I_ am!"

The Ghost moved towards her, in an attempt to calm her down. "Hey, it's alright. It's probably normal for someone who was in your condition to not have any memory. With the amount of rust and scarring you had on your body, I'd say that you've been sitting out here for quite few years. And with the amount of components in your head I had to replace, I wouldn't be too hopeful that long term memory will return at all."

He hovered a moment, then probed a bit, to see what she _did_ know. "Do you know who you are? What I am?"

She pondered a moment. "I know that I'm an Exo, a robotic organism designed by-" She struggled for a moment, then continued. "-humans. That's it, humans, the creators made of flesh and bone." She looked back at the Ghost. "That's about it, I'm afraid. I'm not sure what you are, or what this Traveler of yours is."

He rotated his body segments. "That's a shame, because from all the battle damage your exoskeleton- no pun intended- has suffered, I'd say you fell in a skirmish, likely fighting for the Traveler. But if it's been as many years as I think it may have been, I doubt anyone will recognize you. I think it's kind of saddening that you can't remember the very thing you may have been fighting for."

She just stared blankly at him.

"Ah well. I suppose you'll have to find a name for yourself, people can't just call you 'the Exo'." He began to float away, and he heard her footsteps trailing behind him.

"So where do we go?" she asked.

He eagerly flew to the top of the hill obstructing the sight he wanted her to witness. "We'll we've got a long way to go…" She jogged up the hill, and upon reaching the top, looked out on the horizon and gasped. "But we're heading to the Last City on Earth, under the Traveler."

She saw an enormous white orb hovering over the surface of the Earth, heavily scarred and damaged on it's underside. Tiny pinpricks of light winked in and out of existence in the night sky around it, and as her sight panned downwards, she spied a large city underneath it, maybe fifteen miles from her, and at the forefront was an unbelievably tall tower, it's top extending into the clouds above, like a hand reaching for the silent moon-like structure that watched over all of it.

"What is it? How- how did it get here?" Her jaw was lowered in awe of the god that loomed over the landscape.

"That's a question you'll have to ask the Speaker about. C'mon, we're not going to reach the Traveler by staring at it." The Ghost began to fly towards the City, and with nowhere else to go, the Exo followed him, intent on finding out some answers for herself.

* * *

 _ **"We have found new ways to weaponize curiosity. Pathways into the darkness."**_

 _\- Grimoire of the Warlocks_

 _Warrior-scholars of the Light, Warlocks devote themselves to understanding the Traveler and its power. A Warlock's mind is_

 _an arsenal of deadly secrets, balanced between godhood and madness. On the battlefield, those secrets can shatter reality itself._

* * *

"Aria! I will not ask you again, come down for supper!" Aria cringed at the commanding nature of her mother's voice. Knowing that her patience was wearing thin, Aria gave a small sigh and closed the book she'd been studying out of. She took one last look out of her window, staring at the beautiful sight she had from her window of the Traveler hovering over the City, and made her way downstairs.

She brushed her Lilac colored hair behind her and back into the "punk" sort of hairstyle that she had, and descended the steps towards the dining room. "Mother, you know that I've been trying to study for my evaluations, why do you keep bothering me?"

Her mother glared at her sternly, her emerald green eyes blazing with authority. "You are not of age yet, young lady, and until you are you follow my rules. And my rules state that we eat together as a family." Aria groaned. Her mother refused to acknowledge that Aria was turning of age tomorrow, and would be given a light evaluation that she'd been requesting from the vanguards for nearly half a year. She'd had to wait until she turned eighteen until she could even be considered for possible guardianship.

It was her dream to become a Guardian, to become one of the legendary saviors of humanity- and the other migrant Awoken families as well, such as her own. Her grandparents had left the Reef to live on Earth many years ago, and they'd lived out their lives raising her mother, until they'd passed on and her mother had eventually met her father and thus she'd been born. Considering she and her parents had been born on Earth, the normal humans here were much more accepting of them than the Awoken in the reef would have been, had they tried to return. They only cared for other Reef-born Awoken, and considered everyone else an outsider. Not that she was complaining, she liked her life here on Earth, and she was excited to have the chance to repay the City for the generosity that her own family had been granted so many years before.

If the Traveler chose her as a potential Guardian, she'd be welcomed to the Tower, where she would live, fight, and save humanity alongside other Guardians. With the background that the subspecies of Awoken had, they were naturally more in tune with the light having been changed by it so many centuries before, and she was studying to become a Warlock, one of the three available classes of Guardians. With her adept skills at using the light due to being an awoken, she was a prime candidate for it, and she studied the arts of these particular Guardians; from their walking on the path of the Void, to small magical abilities they were able to perform. She wasn't nearly strong enough in her studies to harness the sheer power of the Void like Warlocks could, but she was able to channel the light to an extent. She'd often entertain her human friends with small light shows, as wavy beams of purple light danced around her hands and through the air in front of her. Small things like that.

Taking her seat at the table, she gazed over at her Father. She shared his ice-blue eyes, much unlike her mother's green ones. He approved of her decision to join the Guardians, and believed it a worthy cause. Her mother however, only thought of the safety of her daughter, and it was a common topic of arguments amongst them. Hoping to avoid another outburst before tomorrow, Aria began to eat her food, intent on not giving her mother any chance to dash her hopes before tomorrow came. Though she felt bad for not talking with her mother the day before she left the house, she knew that if her mother started a discussion, there'd be no end to the arguing until the last possible second. At least peace and quiet was better than hurtful words and shouting.

Dinner was uneventful, and passed by in silence. When she finished her meal, Aria walked over to the sink, washed her dish, and ascended back up the stairs to her room. She heard a loud sigh from her mother downstairs before she closed the door, and she was left alone with her thoughts. She sat down on her bed, opened her book back up, and began to read about the concentration required to summon power directly from the Void, and the care one must take to discern between the powers of the Light and the Dark.


	2. First Steps of a Journey

Matt woke up, for the second time that day.

He checked out his surroundings. He was still in the cockpit of the Arcadia ship. He watched stormy clouds fly past the plexiglass windows, disappearing as quickly as they came into view. From the color of the sky around the ship, he guessed that night had descended on the planet, meaning it'd been a few hours since he and Seraph had taken off in flight from the Cosmodrome.

"About time you woke up," he heard the familiar feminine voice say from somewhere above his head. Looking upwards, he saw her materialize in the air and stare back down at him. "I thought that it wouldn't take too long to reach the city," he said, trying to avoid a tone of accusation.

"Originally, I thought so," she replied, "but then I realized this ship doesn't have any warp drive. We've been having to fly at normal speed for a while. Though with the condition this old hunk of junk is in, I'd imagine it wouldn't have been a good idea for us to warp anyway." Her eye tracked around the interior, as though it was repulsed by the ship's poor condition. Then she focused back on him.

"Speaking of this ship, how did you know it was an Arcadia class?" She zoomed down in front of his face, her polygonal segments twitching slightly. "Arcadia class Jumpships haven't been around since the very beginning of the Golden Age. After that, all records show they were replaced with better, more technologically advanced vessels." She seemed curious about something. "How old _are_ you?"

Matt thought about the question seriously. "Well, I know I was alive in the time of the Mars discovery. I was young, maybe eight or nine? Anyway, the year then was 2037." He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to focus on his memories. "It was the biggest event in humanity's history, finding not just simple alien life, but the being that we dubbed the Traveler. It followed the expedition team back to Earth, and sparked a wealth of technological advances. Medical science came up with new cures every day, our estimated lifespan tripled from the Traveler exposing us to some pure form of energy and preserving our physical bodies, I remember people calling it-" "Light," Seraph interrupted, "it is called light." He stared at her for a moment, and then shrugged and continued on with his story.

"Anyway, that's about it. All of our technology became incredibly advanced from studying the Traveler, but that's all I know. It was in my lifetime over a decade before I bit the dust to those car-jackers." He studied his body, still marveling at how the young Ghost beside him had managed to regenerate his entire body. "That would make me around nineteen or twenty years old." Seraph's eye flashed. "You don't know how old you are?" "Well I've got most of my big memories, the obvious ones. But specifics are a bit fuzzy. I can't remember my exact birthdate, but I can do basic math from the amount of years that passed in my life."

Seraph began to fly around the cabin of the ship. "I can't believe…from before the Golden Age…! It's a miracle that I was even able to revive you, so much time has passed." "Wait," he started, "how much time _has_ passed, exactly?" Seraph looked at him, and though he couldn't accurately read emotions from her, she seemed sympathetic in her voice. "You'd have to ask the Speaker for a more accurate answer, but it's been at least a few centuries. The Golden Age lasted for around three centuries according to our records, but you were from right before the Golden Age, and after the Golden Age came the Collapse, an extremely long period of darkness and despair, we still don't have proper records of it. I guess I'm trying to tell you that, it's been a _very_ long time."

He felt as though he'd been punched in the gut. Three centuries at least, plus a period of time that Seraph didn't even know how long it had existed for. He breathed in and out a few times, a calming technique he'd learned from- somewhere, he couldn't remember exactly. After his breathing became regular again, he sat up in his chair, and gazed over at Seraph.

"Obviously, I'm not getting any part of my old life back. That's a given. So I guess my only option is to become a Guardian, like you said. That's still an option, right?" Seraph nodded vigorously in the air. "Oh yes. With the amount of light you have within you, it'd be foolish of the Vanguards not to make a Guardian out of you." He smiled. "And you'll be my partner?" "More or less," she replied. "I will assist you on all of your journey. It would be my honor to be your Ghost." "Great, it'd be fun to have you around," he said, turning back to the viewing glass, "so long as you're not messing up and triggering alarms and whatnot."

Without warning, the clouds cleared. Though the night made the sky a dark indigo all around, there were spots of light, all clustered together that he could see on the ground. And they illuminated something…

"Welcome to the Last City, Matt." Seraph piloted the ship closer towards the group of lights, and Matt saw clearly that it _was_ a city, of massive scale. It stretched for a few miles at least, and all of the lights from the city shone up at the sky, and illuminated the underside of the pearl white orb that hovered over it all. "The Traveler's still around?" he asked incredulously, believing the large sphere would have moved on by now. "Yes, surprisingly." He could see long black marks and scars along the bottom, evidence of a brutal attack. It looked like a predator had clawed the underside away, ripping away large chunk and pieces, and leaving it scratched up. It made him wonder what had happened to it. He didn't remember any kind of attack on the Traveler in his time, so it must have happened during the Collapse that Seraph had talked about. He'd have to ask the person she'd mentioned before, the Speaker, about it.

The ship flew closer and closer until it came to an immensely large structure, a tower that stood high above the rest of the city. "What is that?" "That's the Tower," came the reply. "It's where the Guardians live." "Couldn't have come up with a more artistic name than 'tower'?" he muttered. The Jumpship flew past the tower, and then began to turn in a 180 degree maneuver. It hovered closer to the tower until it floated around thirty feet above the tiled roof. Suddenly he saw the same blue gird lights flash around his body as Seraph began to teleport him. The next thing he felt was his feet hitting the marble ground, and as the lights cleared and Jumpship flew off, he saw a courtyard of sorts. Other people wandered around the area, some with strange armor, some with robes. Some had their helmets off and he saw even stranger sights, human like people with blue or purple skin, and vibrant, colorful glowing eyes. Robotic beings walking and talking as people did. They almost seemed like something similar from his past, but he delayed trying to remember. He wanted to enjoy what he was seeing. "Like what you see?" Seraph had materialized just above and forward of his right shoulder. "It's incredible," he breathed, in awe and appreciation of the architectural miracle before him.

"Come on," she said. She flew a few feet towards a staircase on the left, that led up to a a balcony with several doorways leading into the side of the tower. "You can rest a few hours in a spare room here. There's always a few empty dorms in the case of new Guardians without any living quarters. Tomorrow morning, we'll talk to the Vanguards." He followed behind her at a leisurely pace. "Why do we need to talk to these… Vanguard people?" "Well, believe it or not, you're the first person, human or awoken wise, that's been revived in nearly nine years. Many thought that all revivable souls had either been brought back already, or had deteriorated to the point of being unrevivable with time wasting away the souls' light." She spun around to face him, still floating backwards as she did so. "But here you are! I had hoped I'd be the one to perform the next revival. Most Ghosts do, and they usually have a trip or two of attempting to find someone before returning to the city and choosing from amongst the city's volunteers." He walked up the stairs as she spoke, and arrived on top of the balcony. "In addition to that, you're from before the Golden Age, meaning that perhaps you can shed some knowledge of what happened before the Collapse to the Vanguards and the Speaker. They're always trying to find out more information, and you are a _very_ valuable source."

Entering a doorway on the balcony, Matt walked down a hallway until Seraph selected a room at random. He gripped the handle, and pushed the door open. The interior of the room was simple, almost spartan like. There was no real decor, just plain white walls, two separate beds, and a bathroom. He supposed they were attempting to fashion basic quarters, and cut down on storage. "Sorry, about the living space," his Ghost friend apologized, "but I figured that you just needed a quick rest. After we talk to the Vanguards, you can find a permanent living space on one of the tower's lower floors." "Don't worry about it," he said, "this is fine. I just need a good nap…" He repeated the statement in his mind, and chuckled a moment. "Funny, you'd think I wouldn't sleep again after having slept a few centuries." Without another word, he walked over to the far bed, and sat down on the blankets. He removed his helmet, and set it on the ground next to the bed. He moved into a lying down position, and passed out as soon as his eyes closed.

Seraph watched him as he slept, and felt happy. Not only had she had the best luck in finding a Guardian partner to revive, but he could be an amazing potential bank of knowledge for the city to more know about their ancestors. She felt happy, and considered her day a success. She settled down on a nightstand next to the bed, and prepared to deactivate for the night, eager to get to work tomorrow.

 **-X-**

"Okay, how about Blue?" "For what? How does that make any sense?" "Your eyes, they're blue. I'm just shooting off suggestions here."

The Exo rolled her aforementioned eyes to the best of her capability. The Ghost's conversation with her for the last fifteen miles to the Tower in the City had consisted of him attempting to come up with a name for her. She was secretly thinking of what she would eventually call him, but at least she didn't voice every suggestion aloud. She now stood in an elevator that had been ascending the tower for nearly five minutes, with her Ghost zipping about the enclosed space. She hoped the journey was worth it.

"Okay, I can see you don't like that… hmmm." The single-eyed machine floated in the air, as though pondering. "Well, you were brought back from the dead. How about Phoenix? They're mythical birds that were reborn from their ashes every time that they died." She just stared at him, with a metallic eyebrow cocked. "Really? I'm not going to take the name of a magic chicken." She looked away, until she had an idea. "But hey, reborn from the ashes… Ash doesn't sound too bad." She turned to gaze back at the Ghost. "How's that? You think that's any good?" The Ghost bobbed up and down in the air, the equivalent of a nod. "Oh yes, I like that a lot. I knew I was bound to help you come up with _something_. Smart as a whip, they call me." "Really?" She grinned at her enthusiastic savior. "Well then that's what _I_ will name _you_. Whip. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" He spun in a circular loop, obviously excited about the progress. She laughed. "Alright then, Ash and Whip it is. An Exo and a Ghost, ready to take on the world."

As if on cue, the elevator stopped, and opened its doors. In front of them was a hallway. Turning to the left, she could see a glass door that led outside, to a balcony. She walked over and pushed the door outward.

After she'd stepped into the night's breeze, she began to take in the sight around her. Other people, ones that she presumed to be Guardians, bustled around the tower. Some laughed in the courtyard, enjoying small talk and reliving past experiences. She saw one woman raise her arms up and make a face, imitating an enemy she had fought. Turning her gaze she saw that there were quite a few serious Guardians as well, people who walked from mission to mission, their features stony and hard. She didn't yet understand what could change the laughing ones so drastically into the solemn faces she saw, but she guessed that being a Guardian wasn't all fun and exploration as her Ghost had made it out to be.

Whip hovered over her shoulder as she looked at a staircase that descended into a lower level. "That's the Hall of Guardians. It's where the Vanguards usually reside, planning every move of this war." She looked at him curiously. "Who are the Vanguards?" He emitted a soft beep, as though he were embarrassed. "That's right, I forgot to tell you! Well see, there are three classes of Guardians, Hunters, Warlocks, and Titans."

This was all new information to her. "Really? What's the difference?" "Quite large, actually," said her robot companion. She could tell he was trying to not sound condescending or frustrated. "Hunters are kind of rogue-like individuals. They track down their enemies and kill without mercy. Not to say all Hunters are heartless…" Whip looked down at the courtyard. "…But all of them are scary for sure."

"Warlocks are scholars first, soldiers second. They study the light's properties for years, and are able to harness and channel the light through their bodies with their mind. It's quite complicated to explain, but they are, in layman's terms, wizards. They conjure the power of the Traveler as though they were spells."

"And the last?" she asked. "Titans are kind of like the official soldiers of the Traveler, its defenders of the light. They watch over the city and its people, defiant to the end. If Hunters cut through enemies like scalpels, then it could be said that Titans bash through theirs like a hammer." Ash liked the sound of that, demolishing enemies with pure force.

"In any matter, we'll talk with the Vanguards tomorrow morning. It's getting late, and though you may not need sleep the way a human would, deactivating for the night would definitely help with your awareness tomorrow. You've had an eventful day." Nodding her head, Ash followed Whip back into the doorway, and down the corridor. He stopped next to a room, and she held onto the handle, swinging it open.

The first thing she noticed when she entered were the two beds, and one of them was already occupied. A human male was lying down on the far bed, wearing a skintight black undersuit, with basic padded armor on his torso, arms, and legs. His hair was somewhat short, darkish brown, and his skin was a very light, tannish color. She looked down at her own body, made of metal and circuitry. The Ghost had done a good job of getting rid of most of the rust, but she would still need a cleaning tomorrow, assuming they were available in the tower. She walked around the closer bed, and felt her foot hit something. Looking down, she saw that she'd bumped the guy's helmet. She stepped around it, careful not to make any noise, and laid down on the unoccupied bed. Turning her head to the left, she saw Whip fly onto the nightstand, next to another Ghost, presumably the guy's. She watched Whip's light fade out from its usual blue glow, and a small automatic window closed over the eye, much like an eyelid shutting. Pulling the blankets over her form, she began to go into standby mode. She shut down her optic receptors, and waited for her mechanical mind to cease its thought process. Slowly, she felt herself slip away into peaceful darkness.

 **-X-**

Aria slowly opened her eyes. The sunlight shining through her window and onto her face where she lay on her bed was blinding, and she resisted the urge to shut her eyes again. Turning her head away from the window, her vision adjusted to the bright environment. What time was it? There was something she needed to do…

With a gasp, she sat up in bed. She looked over at her alarm clock which should have gone off-

Her alarm clock was missing.

Swearing, she made the connection that her mother must have taken the damn thing in order to make her late for her evaluation. Luckily she still had her wrist interface. Raising it up to her face, she saw that it was nearly ten in the morning. With another expletive, she flew out of her bed and pulled her clothing off, hurrying to dress properly for the test. After she'd found suitable garments in her dresser, a pair of black pants and a short blue coat, she quickly pulled them over her nude form. She was dressed in record time, eager to make sure that she made it to the tower entrance before her scheduled appointment at ten thirty.

She ran down the staircase, her feet moving as fast as she could get them to. Her father, cleaning up the dining table downstair, gave her a bewildered look. "Where've you been? I thought you had your Guardian evaluation today-" 'Well," she interrupted as she made it to the bottom step and began to pass him on her way to the door, "I wouldn't be late if _someone_ hadn't stolen my alarm to sabotage me!" She saw him quickly glare at her mother, who was now trying very hard to not look into her husband's gaze, and avoid looking suspicious simultaneously. Aria ran out the door before the argument could happen, and sprinted down the cobbled street towards the tower.

A morning mist was creeping its way through the alleyways, creating a beautiful scene between sun and fog, and she noticed how she would have taken better appreciation of it had she not been in such a rush. The narrow urban pathways and roads along with the compact buildings adorning the sides reminded her of several places she'd read about in history books, notably of ancient cities with names like Israel, and Jerusalem. Makeshift roofs made of cloth and fabric were strung from rooftops across the street, to provide moderate cover from the weather for pedestrians. She loved the look of it in her own way, and she had spent many days as a child running through the alleyways, navigating around the environment as she'd climbed walls, and buildings to reach her destinations. Today was a day for speed, however, and she was forced to take the straightforward street of cobblestone. It ran directly to the tower in the case that some kind of hazard were to become harmful to those living in the city, and a safe haven needed to be established.

Even at her fast pace, she made it to to the Tower with only three minutes left until her meeting. She stopped at the entryway and began to gasp for air, trying to force oxygen into her lungs. She was still panting and attempting not to retch, when she heard a synthetic voice to her right exclaim, "Oh! Are you alright?" Ceasing her recover for a moment, she looked up to see a Ghost hovering above her, looking down at her embarrassing situation. Trying not to blanch, she stood straight up into a professional stance, and fixed her hair back behind her and to the side. "Yes, I'm quite alright thank you." "Well I'm glad to hear that," said the Ghost, "wouldn't want you getting sick right here at the entrance would we?" It flew around her head a moment, and then stopped in front of her, facing her once more. "I'm looking for a possible Guardian recruit, named Aria Sorentine? Are you her?" At the Ghost's question, Aria realized that the Ghost was the one she was supposed to be meeting with for her light evaluation, and her cheeks grew pink from the thought of the one in charge of her potential career seeing her in such a bad shape. "Y- yes, that's me. I apologize for nearly being late, but I had a, umm…" She searched for the proper word. "…domestic dispute."

The Ghost rotated both of its four pointed segments, twirling in the air, as though it were analyzing her, deeming whether or not she was a worthy candidate.

"It's no trouble at all, really. Protocol stated you needed to be here by ten thirty, and you are here, are you not?" She assumed this was the Ghost's way of giving her an out. "Yes, I suppose you're right." She gave the Ghost a smile of humility, and waited to see what it would do. It continued to rotate and twitch until it said, "Come, let's head up to the roof of the Tower. The Vanguards prefer to see the assessments firsthand." Aria almost let her jaw drop out of shock, she'd had no idea that she'd be meeting with the _Vanguards!_ Quickly, she could feel her confidence slipping away. Who was she to be judged amonst them, the mightiest Guardians shone upon by the Traveler's light?

The Ghost looked at her curiously. "Are you sure you're alright? You look a bit off balance, if I may say." Though she now felt unprepared, Aria wasn't going to give up her chance to become a Guardian. "Yes, I said I'm fine. Shall we go?"

Her evaluator gave her an odd look, and then floated towards the entrance, waiting for her to enter one of several doors. She selected one, pulled it ajar, and entered the lobby, the Ghost trailing behind her.

The lobby of the tower was not a foreign place to her, as she had accompanied her father her many times as a child when he had business endeavors to attend to. Her father worked with several groups of the city's militia, constantly looking for cracks in the security around the city. It wasn't terribly dangerous, but she did remember becoming frightened as a child that some Fallen Vandal would find them as they worked in the city boundaries, and end him. In any matter, her father had always reported here to the tower when he found something undesirable in the city's defenses. She spied a Frame, one of the many robotic assistants in the City, working as a receptionist at the main counter in the back of the lobby. Frames were robotic and metal-made, like Exos, but unlike Exos they weren't really people. Frames were more like droids, with programmed personalities and behaviors, versus the Exos who had souls, and could actually feel emotion. How anyone had created living machines that could experience emotion, Aria had no clue, but those were the Traveler's miracles she supposed.

Walking towards the counter, she flagged the attention of the Frame. "Hello!" It turned to face her, and greeted her. "Greetings, I am Reed-103. How may I serve you today?" It's voice was thick with electronic filters, but it sounded helpful enough. "I've got an appointment for a light evaluation, this Ghost says I need to find the Vanguards. Do you know where I need to go?"

"Why yes," replied the Frame, "Just down the main hall behind the counter here, there should be a series of elevators. Select one and take it to the roof. The Vanguards will be located in the Hall of Guardians." Finished helping Aria, Reed-103 turned back to the paperwork that he'd been attending to before she'd called his attention. Happy that she knew where she needed to go, she looked to the side of the counter's back wall, to see an opening, around the size of a doorway. Walking through, she saw that it opened into another lobby, filled with elevators down the sides. She guessed that since the tower was so tall, it probably took a while to reach floors, hence the need for many elevators, so that people weren't constantly waiting for one. These elevators looked sturdy, with glass doors on the front. Since the shafts they used were transparent for the most parts, there were patches of the shaft that you could see out of, and gaze at the landscape, when other floors and various structure wasn't blocking the view. Choosing the first open one on her left, she hopped into the mechanism, and pressed a large button labeled "Top Floor". Apparently, people needed to go there often, and couldn't be bothered with looking for the specific floor amongst all the other possible levels.

The elevator doors shut, and the box began its ascent. It was much faster than other elevators, though that was to be expected with a structure of this height. Aria leaned against the side of the glass, and waited to reach the roof.

 **-X-**

"Matt! Matt!" He heard Seraph's voice whispering to him from the depths of sleep. Groggily, he opened his eyes.

She was hovering over him, and had obviously been waiting for him to wake up. "I think we should go, we're not exactly alone in this room." Wondering what she was talking about, he turned to look at the other bed. The aforementioned bed, which had been perfectly unoccupied the night before, now contained one of the metallic humanoids he'd seen on the Tower when he first arrived. "What are those things, Seraph?" She turned to look at him. "Those _things_ are Exos, and they have feelings. Just as much as any other living being." He felt his heart pound in his chest. " _That's_ an _Exo_?!" he asked incredulously. Seraph stared at him curiously. "Well, yes. Do you know what they are?" "I know about the early prototypes," he replied, "the Exo project was one of the first things that humanity attempted to create when we were presented with the Traveler's technological advances. We'd always dreamed of creating an AI in our image, artificial beings that could think and feel, but until the Traveler came, we'd never dreamed of having the proper capability. I had no idea that they'd succeeded in making them, I guess I died before it happened." He sat up in his bed, and looked back to Seraph. "So they can think for themselves, and can feel emotion? They live?" "Yes," she replied, "and this one is attempting to get some rest. We need to go."

"Just hang on a minute," he said. "I need to see the machinery, seriously it's a work of art!" Before Seraph could protest, Matt had walked to the other bed and pulled the covers off of the Exo's body. The first thing he noticed was the slight rusty color of the metal, but he didn't know where this thing had been, so he ignored it. He looked at the torso and its silver and white color scheme covering the mechanical components inside. Though it was obviously forged from metal, he couldn't help but think that it was an incredible blend of life and machine, and looked very human like. That's when he noticed the second thing, that it was very obviously female. The robotic limbs of the Exo widened at the hips like a woman, and there was more emphasis on the breast area in terms of metal sheeting.

"Uh, Matt…?" came Seraph's voice. He finally noticed the third thing; that the Exo's blue eyes were open and staring at him wide eyed.

"Jeez!" he yelled, and stepped away from the Exo. She in turn yelped a little and pulled the covers back onto herself. "What are you, some kind of pervert? I'm _nude!_ " she exclaimed. Matt just stared at her face blankly, not comprehending. "But… you're made of metal! You don't have anything to hide!" She looked down at the covers hiding her body, then back up at him. " _So?_ I can't have a little privacy? Please leave so that I can change in peace and not have some stranger gawking at me!"

"Alright, I'm going! For God's sake…" With an exasperated sigh, he bent down to pick up his helmet, and left the room.

Closing the door behind him, he stepped out into the hallway and- WHAM!

He felt himself falling to the side, having been hit by something on his right. After he pushed himself up onto his elbows, he saw that one of the light-blue skinned humans had run into him, and had been rushing down the hallway at a speedy pace. He heard the sound of elevator doors shutting, and looked at the young girl's face as she stared back at him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" The poor girl looked so embarrassed, he felt bad for her. "Ah, don't worry. Bad days happen to us all, kid." After standing, he helped her up from her kneeling position. He held out his hand to shake hers. "I'm Matt."

She gripped his hand with hers, and looked him in the eye. "Aria, Aria Sorentine. It's a pleasure to meet you Matt, and I do apologize, but I have an urgent meeting in a few minutes, and I have to be there on time." She walked past Matt and out the door to the balcony, obviously not rushing anymore in an attempt to avoid tripping into anyone else. A Ghost followed behind her, and zipped through the crack between the door and the wall before it closed.

Seraph followed his gaze, then turned back to him. "Well, that could have gone better for your first morning back. First you were accused of being a pervert, and next you ran into some poor girl who was running late." "Hey, she ran into me!" he cried indignantly. "That wasn't my fault." Seraph stared at the ground and turned her body left and right, as though she were shaking her head. "In any matter, what's done is done. Come on, I talked to the Vanguards early this morning. They're awaiting your presence."

"What did you say about me?"

"Nothing much," she replied. "Just that you were a potential Guardian. I wanted to save the big secrets for when you were actually there, and we talked to them together." Nodding his head, he took the helmet he had dropped after running into Aria, and placed it on his head. It fit in perfectly with the seal around his neck, and he was fully armored. "Alright then, let's go."

 **-X-**

"You didn't have to scream at him, you know." Whip hovered around the room, berating Ash. He'd awoken to her yelling at the man who'd been sleeping in the other bed last night. "Well he didn't have to peek underneath the covers!" she replied with heat in her voice. "Well considering we're both made of metal, it's not as though he did any harm. I mean, if that were the case then I'd be considered nude and I would need to fashion tiny garments for myself." Ash smirked at the thought of the Ghost in a small polyhedron shaped shirt. Still, there was something that made her uncomfortable about it, despite the logic of both the guy's and Whip's arguments. "If at all possible, would you mind fashioning me something similar to what he wore? That black undersuit?" "One black undersuit, coming right up." She saw a blue criss cross of lines surround her form, like a grid of sorts. In a moment, a black garment that was made to fit her feminine form materialized around her. With her artificial nerve-like sensors, she could feel its softness and comfort. "Perfect. Thanks, Whip." The Ghost gave a small wink of his blue light, to acknowledge her gratitude.

Now she could roam around the Tower without feeling naked. She supposed she had been too worn out the night before to fully feel ashamed when she'd arrived in the Tower. She couldn't explain her feelings, they were just there. Did humans think like this? Naturally made to feel uncomfortable without clothing? What a dumb evolutionary trait on their part. She felt bad that she'd yelled at the poor guy for practically nothing, but she also felt to a degree that it was his fault for trying to investigate her personal body as though it was just an object.

Her body clothed and concealed, she opened the door to the room. The guy wasn't anywhere to be found, which was a relief. She didn't want to have to look him in the eye at any other point in the future, knowing the awkward scene they'd shared. "Where are the Vanguards? You said we needed to talk to them last night?" Whip flew over to the balcony door. "They're in the Hall of Guardians, a room in the sub-level of the roof. The stairs in the middle of the courtyard lead to it." Heading towards the balcony door, she gave herself a mission; to find out what was going on in this unfamiliar world, and to learn what her purpose could be. She wanted answers, and these Vanguards were going to give them to her.

 **-X-**

Aria descended the last steps of the staircase in a hurry. After she'd run into the man back there, Matt his name was, she had tried not to rush because she didn't want to trip into any more people. But her sense of anxiety had gotten the best of her, and as soon as she'd left the staircase of the balcony, she'd run across the courtyard towards the Hall of Guardians, her Ghost evaluator trailing close behind her. Now she ran through a large corridor with a powerful looking Titan on the right, surrounded by lights and trophies behind him, and a Frame on the left, sitting behind a weapon exchange counter.

Passing them, she reached the end of the hallway which opened up of a large corridor, with holographic screens on the left and right sides, Frames analyzing them for data. And in the center of it all was a shallow pit with a long table in the center. There stood three people positioned around the table, talking with one another and pointing at various maps that were sprawled across the surface of the large piece of furniture. The Vanguards. She didn't feel significant in the slightest while standing in their presence. She felt even less so when she realized they had become silent and were staring at her.

She gulped. Taking a deep breath, she tried to talk to them. "Hello, I'm uh… my name is Aria Sorentine. I'm here for my li- light evaluation? I believe I'd scheduled an ap- appointment here, and the Ghost here said y- you wanted to see it for yourself?" The Exo in the center of the table turned to the other two and whispered, "She's a real confident one, isn't she?" Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard, sarcastic and funny at times from what she'd heard about him, but no less deadly than any other Hunter, if not more so. A black woman turned to face her, and replied to her previous speech, "Are those statements, or questions, young one?" Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard. Having traveled the wilderness for decades with nobody but her Ghost for company, her learned knowledge had earned her the respect of most Guardians, notably Warlocks. Aria began again, this time with renewed confidence.

"My name is Aria Sorentine. I am here for my light evaluation which I scheduled on this day nearly half a year ago. Though I had no idea that I would be in the presence of you three, it is my honor to have my test overseen by the Vanguards." The Awoken Titan at the rear of the table nodded in approval. "Well spoken. It is always our pleasure to guide the young sparks of light on their path so that they may become fully fledged Guardians." Commander Zavala, the Titan Vaguard. He was a legendary warrior, and had helped lead and fight in the Battle of Twilight Gap, the single bloodiest conflict that had ever happened in the war with the Darkness. His reputation was known throughout all of the city, and it commanded respect from all those who saw him.

Rey turned to look at the Ghost hovering in front of Aria. "You may proceed." Giving a small nod, the Ghost turned back to Aria, and began to assess her. As the Ghost analyzed her potential light, she began to physically feel it flowing through her, as though the Ghost had exposed something from within her. It felt like molten lead flowing through her veins, though not in pain; but in power. At some point, the Ghost ceased his assessment, and she felt her awareness of her light dim and fade. She felt normal again. She took a few steps to the right to allow the Ghost to make its report to the Vanguards.

"This candidate has only just turned of age, and already I can see that she has more light within her than most average aged recruits that we process." The Ghost blinked in her direction, letting her know he was happy to put in a good word for her. Rey caught her attention, as she gazed into Aria's face. "Indeed. Aria, you said? Do you study often, perhaps practice channeling the light through yourself at times?" Aria grinned, grateful that her favorite Vanguard had noticed. "Yes, lots and lots. Sometimes I feel most at home while lost in the world of a book." Rey gave a brief smile, and turned slightly to her fellow Vanguards. "She's got the makings of a good Warlock." Cayde-6 and Zavala nodded their agreement. Aria felt her heart pounding, she was so excited. Not only was it possible that she'd be a Guardian, but she might get the chance to use her skills as her preferred class. "Thank you ma'am, I appreciate the praise." Aria gave a slight bow to Rey, trying to do anything to keep the Warlock's preference.

"It's no trouble at all, young one. But I'm afraid that we'll have to attend to something else before coming to a final decision on your Guardianship." Aria's spirits sank. What had she done wrong? "But…" "It's nothing to do with you," said Rey, as though she'd read Aria's mind. "It's just an important matter that's come up concerning- well, there they are now." Aria turned to follow the gaze of the Vanguards as someone entered the chamber, and descended the steps. She gasped in recognition.

"Uh, hi! I'm not really sure who you people are, but from what my Ghost tells me, you're very important. So you have my respect." Matt bowed in recognition of the Vanguards' status, and remained there. He waited for someone to say something like, 'at ease', but nothing came, and he stood straight again, recovering from the awkward moment.

"You!" he heard someone exclaim. He turned to his right to see the young girl he'd nearly been trampled on by, Aria. Seraph had told him that she and the other bluish skinned humans belonged to a subspecies of humans called the Awoken, and had been transformed by a clash between the powers of the light and the dark out near the Jovian planets. She had a look of surprise on her face, perhaps she hadn't been expecting him to be here. To be fair, he hadn't been expecting to see her again either. He gave a small wave and slight smile to show that he recognized her. She kept the same shocked expression, but raised her hand up as well in response to his wave.

"You two know each other?" One of the Vanguards, an Exo wearing a cloak and hood, shifted his gaze from Aria to Matt and back. "Well, not really," explained Matt. "We just met in the hallway near the elevators. She was quite eager to get here I guess, so she just bumped into me by accident." Aria appreciated Matt dumbing down the story to a less embarrassing level, and avoiding the retelling of how she'd completely tripped both of them.

"What is your name?" asked an Awoken man in the back, his gaze focused purely on Matt, as though attempting to penetrate his soul and learn what secrets he held within. He shifted uncomfortably in his current stance. "My name is Matt. I was revived yesterday by Seraph here, and have since been told by her that I needed to see you three, the Vanguards." "Seraph?" inquired the woman in front of him and to his right. "My Ghost," Matt explained. "That's the name I gave her. I didn't want to just call her 'Ghost', that would have gotten old." Seraph gave a small twirl in the air in confirmation of what Matt had said. The woman nodded in understanding. "It's quite rare for a Guardian to name their Ghost, but not completely unheard of. Please, continue."

'Well, I don't really know the specifics of it, it'd be better for Seraph here to explain." Seraph flew forward a few feet, eager to get her report out. "Well firstly, I didn't just revive him. This is the _first_ time he's been revived." Each of the Vanguards inhaled sharply. It was the hooded Exo who broke the silence. "The first time… this is the first revive from the Golden Age in, what, eight years?" "Nine," Seraph corrected, "but that's also technically incorrect. You see, Matt is from before the Golden Age, from the first few years that the Traveler had made Earth its home."

At this, Aria looked flabbergasted, and completely shocked at what Seraph had to say. But the Vanguards showed signs of frustration and disbelief. "Now, I've heard everything," stated the woman. "I'm not sure what games you're playing here Ghost, but rest assured that-" "It's no lie, I assure you!" Seraph defended, "I was quite shocked myself when I realized the possibility, but he has shown signs. He's given accurate memories of events in his lifetime, he recognized an Arcadia class Jumpship, and frankly, I believe he tells the truth." Matt looked at the little Ghost with newfound gratitude, appreciating her stand against the Vanguards in his defense.

At the young Ghost's speech, the Vanguards looked troubled. "Well-" began Zavala, his hand gripping his chin in thought, "-if what you say is true… then you could potentially be a source of data, of knowledge that we have long since forgotten." Neither of the other two Vanguards acknowledged his statement, they only stared at Matt in stunned silence and awe. Aria thought that Matt looked a bit uncomfortable, but was attempting to wear a mask of confidence. Zavala tried again. "Until we've reached a final consensus-"

The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching the chamber attracted the attention of all the room's occupants. Turning to the entrance, Aria saw yet _another_ person interrupt the events taking place in the room. This one was a female Exo, one who had donned a black jumpsuit, with alternating patterns of scratched white and silver adorning her body. She took a few steps forward, and placed herself to the left of Matt, a mirrored version of Aria's current position. "Greetings, Vanguards. My name is-" The Exo suddenly stopped, and turned to stare at Matt at her side. "You?! What are you doing here?" Cayde-6 leaned his head against the palm of his arm with his elbow propping himself up against the table. "You know him too? Why is this guy so popular? How did you two get acquainted?"

The Exo stared accusingly at Matt. "I woke up to him looking under the covers of my blankets, staring at my body."

None of the room's occupants had a response to this. Cayde-6 merely had a facial expression that looked like he was saying, "Well."

"I would like to point out," Matt started, before anyone could turn against him, "that I was merely curious about how she worked. I didn't realize it was offensive in any way. Back in my old life, the Exo project had only just started with the discovery of the Traveler, and I was a bit excited to see the successful results of it." Still nobody spoke, but he could at least see the expressions of the Vanguard loosen up a bit.

The Exo tried again. "In any matter, my name is Ash." Cayde-6 looked sharply at her, and asked, "Ash? Ash what?" "Just Ash," she replied. Cayde-6 turned back to the table, muttering, "No number designation, what kind of proper Exo is she…?" Ash continued her story. "My Ghost told me I needed to speak with you. He revived me yesterday from the outskirts of the City, and I am grateful to him. However, I have no memory, no recollection of my past or why I was found so far from the City walls. I don't even know what exactly the Traveler is yet, other than a large floating rock. I'm sure that's not the answer though, and I'd sure appreciate if you could give me some insight." She looked desperate, probably hoping to find a solution amongst the Vanguards. No such luck.

"While we do sympathize with your situation, we cannot simply siphon knowledge from anywhere." Ikora Rey looked apologetic, but remained firm in her speech. "We have no knowledge of who you are, or what your previous life consisted of. However, if you'd like to wait until we finish this discussion with Aria and… Matt?" He nodded in confirmation, and Ikora continued. "Then we can talk about your current living situation, and perhaps set you up with a proper establishment until you're back on your feet-"

"There will be no need for that, Ikora." A new voice had sounded from behind Matt, and he parted to allow a clear line of sight. Unlike with Matt and Ash, no footsteps had been heard. This man had entered like a shadow, silent but present, with a feeling as though he'd always been there. Aria saw the unique white robes and helmet he adorned, and if she'd felt small in contrast with the Vanguards, it was nothing compared to her feeling of insignificance at this moment.

It was the Speaker, the voice of the Traveler. And he was staring at all three of the potential Guardians before him.


	3. Guardians at Last

The Speaker stepped forward the last few steps until he stood directly in front of the three of them, with Matt and Ash slightly to his left, and Aria to his right. The Vanguards looked just as surprised at the visit as they did.

"Speaker? What came over you to gift us with a visit of yours?" asked Rey, respectful as always. "My purpose here today, lies with these two. I have been instructed to enlighten them." He gestured at Matt and Ash, whose feelings of confusion were evident in their facial expressions.

"Those two? How did you even know they were here?"

"I did not, until they reached the Tower last night, and the Traveler itself sensed the potential within them. It has guided me here, so that I may assist them in beginning their journey." He turned to face Aria. "It appears that there was a third individual who had simply not reached the Tower yet, as well. You are apart of this revelation, however you are already on the right track." If voices could smile, the Speaker's gave a kind and understanding one. "Your path has been set in motion correctly, though these two require… an intervention of sorts, to spark their light. All I ask is that you remain here and enjoy the company of the Vanguards for a while longer, until they and I return."

His head gazed over at Matt and Ash. "Come, there is much to learn and little time." The Speaker began to walk away, towards the exit of the Hall. With virtually nowhere else to go, Matt and Ash followed after a second's hesitation.

Cayde-6 spoke, and expressed exactly what Aria was feeling; "What the hell just happened?"

-X-

The Speaker wasn't exactly tough to follow, but he sure was mysterious. He hadn't said a word to Matt or Ash since he'd begun to walk, and they'd followed closely in silence as the Speaker rounded corners and passed through corridors, until they crossed a small bridge within a secondary courtyard, and gasped.

The Speaker's room looked not unlike a giant astronomy tower. There was a large, peculiar device that moved and rotated, never impacting against itself due to complicated mathematical algorithms. Behind it was an open balcony, with an incredible view of the Traveler, and the city. To the left was a staircase, one which the Speaker had already ascended as Matt and Ash had gawked in awe. They turned their attention to him, and walked up the staircase as well.

"Please, sit down," said the Speaker, gesturing to two cushioned stools that he had set aside for them, "there is much to discuss." Each of them selected a seat, and awaited what the Speaker had to say.

"I don't know how or why, but the Traveler has selected you two for a greater purpose. Its motives are incapable of being understood at times, and even I still have no idea as of yet as to what that purpose may be." The Speaker turned to gaze at the balcony's view for a moment, as though wishing the Traveler would somehow begin to speak in obvious direction. No such moment came, and he turned his attention back to the two who sat before him.

"What I do know is that I was able to sense each of your light the moment you entered the Tower. You two are powerful, though you do not know it yet. I am here merely to teach you, to answer your questions should you have any, and to hopefully turn you into Guardians." He tilted his head slightly, like he was smiling behind the white mask of his. Ash started to speak first.

"Speaker, I don't know who I am, or anything that's going on right now. I'm not even completely sure what this, 'Traveler' which everyone speaks of, is. I don't remember anything from my past life, as my Ghost had to remove many of my malfunctioning components from my body in order to revive me. How can I find out who I was, what I was created for?" She looked pleadingly at the Speaker. He paused a moment, and then replied as well as he could.

"My dear, perhaps it is not meant for you to understand your origins quite yet. The Traveler has brought you back for a reason, and apparently that reason involves you not retaining any memory of your past life. Maybe the only way to find the path you've lost is to begin a new one, and in doing so stumble across it." This answer obviously did not satisfy Ash, and her fist clenched in frustration. "As for the Traveler, well that's quite easy to explain." He shifted his gaze to Matt. "Or I had thought it was, though perhaps the boy here will shed some forgotten knowledge in the months to come." He turned back to Ash. "The Traveler is an entity that came to us many centuries ago. It sparked a technological revolution, igniting the pioneer within our blood to even greater goals. It helped create your kind as well, the Exos. In a few ways, you could consider it a parent."

"In any matter, a Golden Age of advancement began, with the Traveler at the forefront. It was a time for celebration." Suddenly, the Speaker shuddered slightly. "But as with all happiness, there usually exists one who seeks to destroy it. The Darkness, an ancient enemy of the Traveler, followed it to us. It brought about the Collapse, a period of desperation in which we fought hopelessly against it. Though we did not win against it in any way, our resistance was valiant enough to warrant a temporary retreat from us. It gave us time to rebuild, and prepare." His voice now carried a solemn tone. "But we are not yet ready. Though we manage to keep out the Fallen armies which surround us, they are but one limb of the Darkness, extended like a curios phalange, testing our defenses. It is coming back, and we will not survive it this time unless we stand together with the Traveler once more, and it has remained dormant since its sacrifice for us that ended the collapse."

Ash's face showed understanding now, and she asked, "Alright, so now I know all of that. But what exactly _is,_ 'The Darkness'? Is it like, another Traveler, but evil? Or something else?"

The Speaker drew in his breath, shaken by the thoughts of the information he was sharing with the two potential Guardians. "No one quite knows. Many accounts describe the Darkness as an 'it', others as a 'they'. We don't know if it is a single entity commanding several armies, or if it simply the combined efforts of several enemies' attempts to eliminate us. One thing is certain, that it will not leave us in Peace, and our only chance for survival is to destroy it before it destroys us."

The next question came from Matt; "What exactly is a Guardian?"

The Speaker looked at him with appreciation. "Ah, now we've come full circle to the original purpose of this meeting. Guardians are the defenders of the Traveler, its light, and the City. They fight the war that still rages today, though softly, subtly. They are the most noble warriors that exist, putting their lives on the line every day in order to buy more time of safety and peace for humanity." The Speaker gave a small sigh, in silent appreciation of all the Guardians' combined efforts. "And you two are prime candidates."

Ash and Matt twister their heads to face each other, and then focused back on the Speaker. "You want us to become Guardians? To fight the Darkness?" Matt didn't sound unsure of his decision, he only sounded as though he wished to clarify the Speaker's intention. The Speaker nodded. "As I said, the Traveler has selected you for a reason. The quickest way to discover that reason is to begin your journey."

Matt stood up and returned the Speaker's nod. "During my time, the Traveler gifted humanity with just about every technological advance we could hope for." Matt looked behind the Speaker at the view from the balcony, where the Traveler hovered in low orbit over the City. "And now, I've learned that it sacrificed itself for humanity. The least I can do is to become one of its defenders."

Ash looked conflicted with herself for a moment, then gave an outwards sigh. "I suppose I'm not going to get any answers while I'm stuck here, so yeah. If the Traveler has indeed brought me back for a purpose, then I intend to find out what it is."

The Speaker allowed them both to rise from their seats, and clasped a hand on each of their shoulders. "Then in the name of the Traveler's light, I dub you both Guardians." He released them, and though no obvious physical change occurred, Matt felt warm, happy that he now had a sense of direction for his new life. "Return to the Vanguards, they'll explain the living conditions at the Tower. I expect you'll want to find proper accommodations, and perhaps some sustenance as well." Now that he'd said it, Matt realized he was quite hungry. He'd have to wait until after they'd met with the Vanguards before finding some food.

The Speaker turned back to his desk, leaving Ash and Matt to descend the staircase, and make their way back towards the Hall of Guardians.

-X-

Aria heard the two pairs of footsteps approaching before the Vanguards did, and she turned to look at their source, attracting the attention of the three veteran Guardians as well. Matt and Ash walked back into the room with different expressions than they'd worn when they'd left. Matt now looked truly confident, and somewhat happy. Ash looked uncertain, but with determination in her features.

"So? What did the Speaker have to say?" Zavala was straight and to the point, like most Titans. Matt opened his mouth to speak, but Ash beat him to it. "We've been granted permission to become Guardians, and to begin our journey in fighting the Darkness." Ikora Rey nodded her head in understanding. "Light be with you."

Aria felt happy for them, but also apprehensive, and even somewhat envious. She'd been trying to practice harnessing the light since she could remember, preparing for this day when she might have the chance to become a Guardian. And these two had apparently only been around since yesterday, yet had already been established as Guardians. It made her more than a little disappointed that-

"In addition to you two, another Guardian has been born today as well." Aria's train of though immediately ceased, and her spirits rushed back into her. She met Ikora's gaze with a face of hopefulness, as Ikora continued. "Aria Sorentine, you have more than passed your light evaluation. Welcome to the world of Guardians." Though the sentence itself was simple enough, Aria could feel a lump in her throat, and her eyes became slightly wet. She'd been waiting for this day a long time, and at long last her patience had been rewarded.

"Now all that's left is for you to each find your calling, your class of Guardian." She stared pointedly at Aria. "I already know you have the great makings of a Warlock, and should you desire it, you have my full approval." Aria nodded vigorously, not wanting to give any kind of chance for Ikora to change her mind. The Warlock Vanguard turned back to face the other two. "So we've found one Guardian's path. Now we just need to find yours. There's no sure way to determine your calling, though we have a method that's almost never been wrong." "Almost never?" asked Matt, raising an eyebrow. The Vanguards looked at each other. "There are those whom the light was not meant to touch," explained Ikora, and Matt could tell the conversation of that topic was over. "In any matter," began Cayde-6, "There are specific traits that each class of Guardians exhibit. Warlocks fight with their mind, first and foremost. Titans prefer to smash their enemies to smithereens, and Hunters exhibit a cool sense of lethality, deadly but calm, at least until you piss them off." Zavala rolled his eyes at Cayde's obvious bias towards his class.

"So I ask you this Guardians…picture a source of power in your mind. Allow the Traveler's light to flow through you, and guide you towards your calling." Now Matt raised his other eyebrow. "And how exactly do we do that? Is this some kind of, 'feel the force' vibe that I'm feeling? I'd be very surprised if any of you have watched Star Wars." He looked around at the faces staring blankly back at him. "Ah right, you don't get my references. Sorry."

Ikora shook her head to ward away the negative thoughts she was likely having, and looked back at Matt. "Simply empty your mind. Allow the Traveler to take control for a brief moment, to show you what you need to see." Matt sighed and turned to Ash next to him. She shrugged, then turned back to the Vanguards and closed her eyes. With another sigh, he repeated her actions.

"Now, picture your source of power. What elemental force drives you to succeed?" Matt didn't see anything but the back of his eyelids. _Empty your mind,_ he told himself. Just… _relax._ Surprisingly, he began to feel dormant, less aware. He tried to picture a source of power like Ikora has said, but he still couldn't see anything.

Suddenly, he began to imagine two orbs appearing in the black void of his mind. They became clearer as they grew in size, and they moved around each other in an odd dance of flight. One he could see, was blue. He felt it's power, it's electric surges and pulses. It was the equivalent of a thunderstorm contained in a ball. The other radiated heat, and billowed with an aura of fire. He felt its warmth pour over him, swallowing him in the light.

Ash heard Matt inhale sharply beside her, and she imagined he was experiencing something similar to her. She witnessed two glowing sources of energy, one blue that emanated a statical pulse from its center, and shocked her when she attempted to probe it. The other was a deep violet color, with tiny purple rays that weaved in and out of space, and danced around her body. Her mind couldn't take the prolonged exposure to the incredible energy each put, and she opened her eyes with a gasp.

She looked to her right, where Matt had just opened his eyes as well, and stared back at her, breathing heavily. Sweat had gathered on his forehead, and he seemed positively stunned judging by the expression on his face. She supposed she had the same vacant and surprised look that he did, and she looked away, trying to focus her mind on correcting her facial features.

"What did you see?" asked Ikora. Matt tried to come up with the words to describe the raw power he'd witnessed, but failed. He tried again. "I saw… two orbs of light, one orange, one blue. The blue one seemed like a storm, I guess, as though someone had taken a hurricane or something and jammed it into a tiny container. The other felt like a raging fire, as though it were a miniature sun, glowing in the dark." He felt sheepish for coming up with such odd descriptions, but he saw looks of understanding from the Vanguards, and even approval from Cayde-6.

"And what about you?" Zavala was the first to shift his gaze to Ash, with the other Vanguards mimicking his movement a moment later.

"I saw the same blue orb that Matt here did, but I didn't see any orange one. What I did see what a purple orb instead. This one felt like…" She tried to come up with words to describe it. "I can't think of any other description other than 'magical'. It seemed to be in defiance of the laws of physics, if that makes sense."

"Indeed it does." Ikora gave them a small smile, knowing how the two were currently feeling. "Matt, you have seen the power of Solar and Arc. Ash, you experienced the might of Arc and Void. Each of these three elemental forces, Arc, Solar, and Void, are specific types of light that Guardians draw their power from. Each class has two distinct arts that accompany it. For Hunters, there is the path of the Bladedancer, and the way of the Gunslinger. For Titans, the arts of the Striker and Defender are their outlying abilities. Warlocks experience the might of the Voidwalker, and the rejuvenation of the Sunsinger." She bowed her head and gestured to the other two Vanguards. "Welcome to the light, Hunter, and Titan."

Cayde-6 motioned for Matt to join him at the table, and Zavala gave Ash a curt nod that implied he wished the same. Both walked over to their respective Vanguard.

"I had you pegged for a Hunter the moment you walked in here," said Cayde, and Matt could hear the pride in his new mentor's voice. "I'm sure that you'll make a fine addition to our ranks."

"A Titan's strength is as strong and unyielding as his will," said Zavala. Ash thought about the two subclasses of Titans, much simpler sounding than something like 'void walker', or 'bladedancer'. But she preferred it that way, straight and to the point. Maybe that's why she'd been drawn to the Titan class. "I've observed you, and I can see that your will isn't so easily broken. You truly are a proper Titan." Ash lifted her head at the praise, and stood a little straighter.

Ikora looked at her own new protégé with pride. "I do not need to explain any of this to you, as you've done your research. Perhaps that should be a defining feature of most Warlocks in the future, that they already know what they need to before even attempting recruitment." Ikora had basically just said that Aria was a role-model for future Warlocks, and Aria didn't think her knees would support her for much longer if she kept getting compliments of this magnitude.

"Now, onto the matter of your living arrangements." Ikora nodded at Cayde-6, signaling that this was his subject to speak about.

"Ah, right. Well, here in the City we run off an economy based around Glimmer, a programmable, digital substance that can be electronically moved around. It's basically like virtual money. The Tower is no exception, and you'll find that most of the weapons and armor around here are sold by different vendors, willing to help Guardians out for a price." He snorted. "You'd think that when it came to saving the human race, people would think about more than just money, but evidently not. Anyway, we're going to give you each a few thousand, to set you up. We'll also issue you each permanent living quarters, though you can buy a different space that you prefer with Glimmer later, if you'd like."

Cayde-6 made a motion with his hand towards the open doorway. "Outside in the courtyard, there's a Frame who tracks bounties, assignments given to us by the City and its people. When you complete those bounties, you earn Glimmer. Simple as that. There's also a Cryptarch out there, by the name of Master Rahool. He's nice enough, but he sells engrams, a fourth state of matter. He collects them from the City and God knows where else, but if you pay him, he'll decrypt some and give them to you. They contain everything from armor to weapons. Engrams are just a better, more efficient way to store items. Just tell him what you need, and he'll find it for you."

Cayde-6 looked at the three of them, and made a thoughtful expression. "Though, I'd say the thing you three need the most right now is a ship. Technically, you've already got one apparently," he said, pointing his thumb at Matt, "but Arcadia class Jumpships haven't been used in centuries, and they're likely very unstable in their current conditions. I'd recommend buying a new one along with these two, but at least you can trade yours in for a discount."

He clapped his hands together in an air of finality. "I guess that's about it! Wait, where are your Ghosts?" At their mention, each of the three Ghosts that had been missing materialized in the air. Cayde glanced over at Aria, and pointed at the one hovering above her head. "By the way, you can keep that one. He's been looking to have a Guardian for a bit too long, I'm sure he'll welcome the opportunity." The Ghost gave a small somersault in alignment with what Cayde had said. The hooded Exo shook his head slightly, muttering, "Damn unprofessional, is what it is…"

"Cayde has neglected to tell you of a very important detail." Zavala glared at Cayde who had sharply turned to the Awoken Titan, his eyes wide as he tried to remember what the Titan could be talking about. Zavala shook his head, and said, "A fireteam."

"Oh, yeah!" Cayde turned back to Matt, and said, "I knew that. Was just saving it for last."

Zavala and Ikora rolled their eyes in unison.

"Anyway, a fireteam is a group of Guardians that carry out missions together, using teamwork and strategy to defeat their foes. Though there are always Guardians who prefer to lone-wolf it-" Cayde-6 gave a small _ahem_ , and whispered, _Yours truly,_ then continued. "-it can be quite useful to have another Guardian or two backing you up in the field."

Matt looked around at the other Vanguards."Well, I don't really know anyone else here, so I don't know where to start in creating a fireteam."

Cayde looked back at him, and made a quick movement of his hand, in the general direction of Ash and Aria. "Well, I know two others in your same predicament."

The newly initiated Hunter gazed at the other two, both as foreign to the world of Guardians as he was. Well, maybe not Aria, but she hadn't had any combat experience yet. He did.

"I don't have any complaints. Would you two like to be part of a team?" He saw Aria consider it for just a moment, before nodding her agreement. He turned to look at Ash. She had a look of concentration on her face, weighing the options she had. He hoped she wasn't taking the room incident from earlier into account. She stopped, and looked back at him.

"Sure. Why not?" She gave him a brief smile, expressing her genuine eagerness to work together. He gave her a nod and returned her smile, then faced Cayde again.

"Alright then, I think that takes care of our need for a fireteam." Seraph began to twirl her little dance in the air, excited at the events unfolding. Cayde glanced up at her for a moment, then lowered his head back to look at Matt. "So it does. I'm issuing orders to each of your Ghosts right now-" He raise his wrist up, and tapped a few commands into the electronic interface that surrounded it. The Ghosts stiffened for a moment, and twitched slightly. "-telling them where your rooms are now. I'd recommend setting up your quarters right now." He turned to Ash next to Zavala. "Except for you. Since you don't have any gear, you can take the time to get a much needed cleaning. Believe me, as a fellow Exo, I can attest to how great it feels after a good buff. There should be someone who does that in the Hangar, assuming she's not on break." Ash nodded her understanding, and walked around the table to the doorway, before exiting the chamber.

"As for you two, go ahead and set up your rooms, and maybe follow her example and take a shower or something. After lunch, I think you should each head into the hangar and pick out a ship for yourselves. That is, unless you want to walk everywhere." Both Matt and Aria nodded and bowed to the Vanguards, before making their exit.

Zavala was the first to speak. "I do believe these three are quite promising. A bit odd, that's for certain, but promising." "You can say that again," said Cayde. "I liked the kid the second he walked in here." Ikora smirked with the grin of a wolf. "Maybe his story with Ash reminded you just a bit of one of your own similar experiences, except she wasn't an Exo."

"Look, I told you both that it didn't happen like that!" said the Hunter indignantly, to the chortles of both Zavala and Ikora, whom each of which had heard his tale of innocence many times.

-X-

"Alright, this is the place." Seraph hovered over next to a door in the back of the Guardian's barracks, which could be accessed through the sliding doors underneath the balcony that led to the elevator station and temporary living quarters. Matt walked over to where she floated, with Aria at his side. "And this, is ours!" Aria's Ghost flew a few feet over to a door on the far side of Seraph's. "Alright, so we're next door to each other. Seraph, out of curiosity, where's Ash's room?" "Checking." He heard her internal motor whir for a moment, then she traveled over to the door opposite of Matt's in relation to the hallway. "This one here. You're all fairly close together." He was glad that he wouldn't have to walk far to reach either of his fireteam members, should the need present itself. "Alright then." With a mock excited look to Aria who giggled, he gripped the handle of his door and swung it open.

He saw that this room was noticeably larger than the temporary quarters of the night before. It wasn't huge, but it definitely gave him a little bit more room, and overall looked nicer. Matt thought it kind of looked like a nice hotel room from his past life. Aria followed him in, and gazed around the interior. "Well I hope all the rooms are this nice." She looked around to see the small kitchen area on the left, with the bathroom on the right. It reminded her of the rentable apartments in the City. Turning around, she made her exit to look at her own room.

She walked out the door and turned to the right, gripping the handle of the door that her Ghost had pointed out. She pulled it open to see a mirrored version of Matt's room, virtually the same space, just reflected. She nodded her head in approval, then left again, her Ghost trailing behind her. She looked over to see Matt exiting his own room, now just wearing his black undersuit, having removed his armor and stored it in his room. He made a motion towards the door. "You ready to go?"

"Go? Go where?"

"To the hangar. I figured we'd meet up with Ash there, and then pick out some ships for ourselves."

Aria liked the idea, and nodded her agreement, pointing to her black pants and blue coat as a sign that she was dressed and ready to leave. Matt looked at them with an approving expression, then turned to walk out the door. Seraph was nowhere to be seen, so she assumed she had dematerialized, so that she'd still remain with Matt in his head, but not fly around everywhere. It took her a second to see that her Ghost was missing as well, meaning that they likely did it on their own accord. It was an odd thought that her Ghost was in her mind, but not the strangest she'd ever heard of. She quickly followed Matt out the door.

-X-

"Alright, you're good to go." Ash almost wished it weren't so. The warm wax and vibration of the buffer had been relaxing, and had felt _so good,_ probably like it did for a human when they scratched at an itch. She looked down at her metallic white-and-silver form, and admired the now shiny and glistening metal that shone from the reflection of light. All of the diluted, rusty red color was gone, and she understood what Cayde-6 had meant; being clean felt _great._ Her joints no longer made slight squeaks when they moved, her chest and legs weren't covered with scratches in her paint coatings, and her mobility felt so much more fluid. She hadn't noticed the slight stiffness in her limbs until she tried to move them after the cleaning and remarked at how easily they rotated and shifted in their sockets.

"Ooh, nice and shiny!" Whip flew around her now clean body, inspecting it for flaws and finding none. Her paint scheme had even been restored.

She moved over to where she'd lain her black jumpsuit. Though she'd had to undress to get cleaned up, she didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable standing in the eyes of the female cleaner. She guessed that it was just a natural reaction to being with someone with the same kind of body, versus someone who would ogle at it. Though that wasn't really fair, since she now knew Matt hadn't been trying anything of the sort when she'd yelled at him. Stepping into the leg holes of her suit, she pulled it up and over her nude form. Thankfully, the material was stretchy, and fit to her body. It at least eliminated the need for zippers or anything.

Once she was ready, she walked back over to the cleaner. "Alright, how much do I owe you?" "Oh, it's no trouble at all," said the cleaner, waving Ash away. "It's the least I can do for a Guardian of the city. Thank you for your service!" The young cleaner turned back to her station in the hangar, moving to attend to her next order of business. Ash wondered about the respect that her status as a Guardian gained her. The only thing she could really do, was to make sure that respect wasn't given in vain, and to uphold the reputation of Guardians that had preceded her.

"Hey, Ash!' She turned quickly to see Matt and Aria heading in her general direction. She walked forward to greet them. "Hey, what are you two doing here?" "Well, we set up our rooms and figured we'd meet you here, so we could pick out our ships." Ash nodded in agreement of his idea. "Alright, lead the way." "Seraph?" Matt's young Ghost materialized in front of him, and flew towards a set of stairs a few yards to Ash's right. "This way." Following the trail of the Ghost, the trio of Guardians ascended the staircase.

At the top was a workshop of sorts. Holographic monitors and screens lined almost every side of the space, and there was a desk in the back with papers scattered all over. Sitting at the desk was a blonde woman with tussled up hair, and stains of grease on her clothing.

"Uh, excuse me miss?" Her head snapped towards them, and she quickly stood up and walked over to welcome them. She extended her hand and gripped Matt's in turn. "Welcome to the Hangar! I'm Amanda Holliday, mechanic for all the Guardians' ships that pass through here. I also sell them, should you need one." He noticed that she had a thick Texan accent, though he doubted that anyone here even remembered what Texas was retracted her hand, and when he examined his own, he saw bits of dirt and oil on it, left behind from the female mechanic.

"Yes, that second option sounds good, right about now." He gestured towards the two women behind him. "This is Ash, and Aria. We're all new Guardians, and we're looking for a means of transportation."

Amanda nodded in understanding. Man, there seemed to be a lot of that these days. "I gotcha. Will that be a group or single ship?"

"What?" Matt didn't know what she meant by group.

"Well, a group ship can accommodate up to a few people. Singles can only fit one, usually the pilot, unless it's the Ghost that's driving. Group ships are bigger obviously, and are somewhat more expensive, but they're just as fast as the singles, and you only have to pay for one. If you know that you're going to need it for multiple people a lot, I'd highly recommend it."

Matt turned to his two companions behind him. "What do you guys think? We pool our money, and all share one for transport? It'd save us a bit of money if we're all splitting the cost." He could see them consider the notion, and then nod their approval. He turned back to the mechanic, and said, "Alright then, one group ship please." Amanda nodded, and motioned for them to follow her over to one of her monitors. She slid her finger across the screen, and different images of the various models of ships popped onto the screen. "So if you're looking for a nice group ship, I'd recommend this baby here. The LRV2, Javelin class. It's about as fine as they come, and handles like a bird." The ship certainly sounded promising enough.

"How much?" "Around 3,000 glimmer." "Seraph, how much Glimmer did the Vanguards give us?" She hovered in front of him, checking her data. "Around 5,000 each." That left 4,000 glimmer for each of them, more than enough for them to start off with. He turned to look at Aria and Ash to see what they thought.

"That's not a bad deal," said Ash, and she crossed her arms across her chest, awaiting his final decision. "I agree, I think we should take it." Aria looked more than approving of the choice. Matt like the aesthetics of it too. It looked almost like an SR71 Blackbird, the fastest plane in the world, or at least it had been until the Traveler had arrived, and jumpstarted their level of technology to create ships like the Arcadia classes, ships that could literally warp in and out of space to reach destinations faster.

"Sure, we'll take it." "Excellent! Just transfer over the glimmer to my account, and you're good to go." Matt saw a prompt pop up on his wrist interface that Seraph had created for him. He tapped a 'confirm' icon, and watched as a blue light pulsed when he did. "Transaction complete! I'll have your ship outfitted and ready in a few hours. You can store your ship in the hangars here when it's not in use." Matt waved a thank you in her direction, and descended back down the staircase, Ash and Aria following close behind.

"Alright, we've got our ship. Now all we need is some food. Anyone hungry?" On cue, his stomach growled. Both Ash and Aria laughed at the noise. "Sure, I could eat. I missed breakfast this morning anyway, long story." Aria glanced over at Ash who had a look of confusion on her face. "One second, do I eat? Whip, do I eat food?" Both Matt and Aria had to hold their composure to avoid laughing at the absurd conversation Ash had started with her just-materialized Ghost. "Well, you do need energy, but you can get energy from either sources of electricity, or by consuming organic foods like what Matt and Aria eat. The Exos were designed to process all kinds of matter and convert it to energy, so that they could keep functioning." Her question answered, Ash turned back to Matt and said, "Yeah, I'm down. Where to?"

Matt looked up at Seraph, and asked, "Hey, do you know any good places to eat around here?" Suddenly, he became wide-eyed and said aloud, "Oh great, I've turned my super advanced AI companion into a glorified smartphone." He shook his head to the bewilderment of the other two Guardians who stood next to him, and turned back to Seraph. She gave small pulses of blue light as she processed information. "There are a few restaurants in the City, mostly in the higher end areas. What are you looking for?"

"Just look for something with burgers. I'm starving." With another blue pulse, Seraph exclaimed, "I found one. Follow me." Seraph began to float off, presumably making her way towards the elevators of the Tower. Without missing a beat, Matt, Ash, and Aria followed her.

-X-

"Mmm, these burgers are delicious!" Matt enjoyed his meal in delight and contentment. He hadn't expected burgers to still be around, due to the end of the world and everything. Yet here it was, a beef burger with cheese and fruit. Or, whatever passed for beef these days. He hadn't seen any cows, and he wasn't too keen on finding out what the City was using as a substitute.

The trio of Guardians sat at a booth in a popular bar, ordering both food and drink for themselves. Ash had been quite surprised when she found that in addition to her ability to eat organic food, she could even taste it, and they'd all laughed in enjoyment and celebration at her new discovery. Matt was finishing up the last of his burger and drinking some kind of beer, while Aria and Ash were only halfway through their meal. He guessed that being dead for hundreds of years turned you into quite the ravenous eater. He popped the last bit of bread and meat in his mouth, and began to sip his drink, waiting for the other two to finish.

"I agree," said Aria in consensus. "There isn't usually anything this tasty down in the urban districts, where I grew up. This is too fancy a place for my family to visit." Matt liked Aria's personality. She was humble, and didn't seem to try and place herself above others in status. Ash was great too, with her witty banter and to-the-point attitude. He didn't know how old she was, but she acted similarly to that of a 20 year old, about Matt's age. If there was one thing Ash had that Aria didn't, it was the age factor. Aria, being eighteen apparently, was nearly two or three years younger than Matt or Ash. Though there weren't any strict age restrictions with alcohol where eighteen and overs were concerned, Aria had wrinkled her nose at the suggestion of a beer. Ash had no such complaint, and had nearly downed half of her own in the first sip.

"Hey, Matt." He turned to look at Ash, who seemed worried about something. "I didn't mean to make you sound like some kind of creep, back in the Vanguards' hall. I know now that you weren't trying to be offensive, and maybe I overreacted. I just… I'm sorry." Matt was already waving her apology away before she'd finished speaking. "Ah, don't worry about it, no harm done. I probably shouldn't have looked like a snoop peeking in some stranger's bed. No hard feelings?" Ash nodded her appreciation, and went back to eating her sandwich.

"So, you're from before the Golden Age?" Aria looked at Matt with interest. "Yup," he replied, downing another swig of his drink. "And you were alive when the Traveler first arrived on Earth?" Again, he confirmed her question with a quick nod. "When we first discovered it on Mars, I remember everyone thinking it was some kind of structure that had been built. But we quickly found that it was sentient, or at least had some kind of mind. Technology boomed big time, our top of the line electronics became a thing of the past overnight. There was more unity between the different nations than I'd ever seen, probably because no one knew how to react to this thing." He shrugged. "I guess I'm already doing my job, providing insight into the past."

Aria had observed Matt as he'd talked, and she didn't detect any trace of him trying to brag about his unique status, or see him swaggering with his newfound value. In fact, he seemed somewhat uncomfortable with his unusual job, and appeared to dislike the attention it had gained him from the Vanguards. She liked that he wasn't someone who needed to be in the spotlight.

"So, what now?" asked Ash, the last of her meal disappearing into her mouth. "I was just about to ask you two that," replied Aria. "What do you think, Matt?"

He contemplated their options. "Well, we've all had somewhat of a long day. Navigating through the city took about an hour, and it'll take an hour to get back. That estimate leaves us arriving back at the Tower at around five. Not much we can do for the rest of the day, so I'd say head back and get some rest before setting out tomorrow. Our ship will be ready, and we'll take on some Tower bounties."

Both Ash and Aria seemed to like his idea."Alright then, you two can show me my room." Ash stood up from the booth of the table, and left the seat, allowing Aria to exit as well. Matt stood up along with them, and they walked towards the exit together.

-X-

Ash flung herself down on her bed. After Matt and Aria had pointed her room out to her, she'd thanked them and entered. Just like her Ghost had said, she didn't completely need sleep, but it did help her keep her awareness up. Even machines weren't built to run non-stop. She got comfortable, and glanced over at Whip who was setting himself up on the nightstand.

"Today was quite the eventful day, don't you think?" She awaited the Ghost's response, but upon hearing none, she glanced over to see that he'd already deactivated for the say. She looked back up at the ceiling and mulled over the day in her head. Though she hadn't gotten any answers on where she'd come from, or what her past life had been, she'd started a new one just like the Speaker had suggested. She was now a Titan, a Guardian of the Traveler. She had a fireteam, one that was ready to help her on her journey. She thought about Matt and Aria, her fellow fireteam members, and realized that they were perhaps the only real people she knew right now. She also came to the revelation that she'd begun to regard them as friends, not just people she knew.

It felt good to have friends to support her, especially with all the confusing turns her life had taken in the last few days. Staring into the dark space of the room, Ash thought about them fondly as her glowing blue eyes illuminated the shadowy corners of the room, and slowly, closing her eyes, she drifted off into peaceful slumber.


	4. First Blood

Ash jolted awake, having been interrupted from her sleep by the downward arc of a thrown pillow.

"C'mon, it's already eleven. You've slept in long enough, let's get a move on!" Aria stood in the Exo's room, already dressed in her gear. She wore a white tunic, short and tactical looking, that came down to just above her knees. It had slight lavender accents, and looked quite professional, as though Aria were preparing more for a meeting, or a business endeavor rather than battle. Ash glared at her with as mean a look that she could fake. Obviously, she wasn't really mad at the girl, but she didn't want to be woken like that in the future, either. "Better not do that again, or that pillow's gonna come flying right back at you."

Aria wasn't buying it. "Oh come off it, you and I both know you're bluffing. Hurry up and let's go!" Aria made an impatient gesture towards the door. From across the hallway, Ash spied Matt stumbling out of his adjacent room, half dressed in his armor. She assumed he'd been greeted with the same brutish morning as her, and she watched him yawn tiredly as he placed his helmet over the seal that lined his neck. Fully armored, he walked to the right and out of her line of sight. She sighed in resignation, and looked back to Aria.

"Where'd you get those robes? I could use some armor as well, seeing as I don't really have anything other than this." Using her two forefingers, she pinched the black suit she was wearing, signaling to Aria her lack in wardrobe. "There's a few vendors around the tower, they sell armor and weapons to the Guardians. I'd go the gunsmith for weapons, he's got quite the selection. Matt's heading there now. Though, if you're looking for armor, you should probably see the the Vanguard armory. It's near where you had your cleaning, in the hangar." Ash nodded to show she comprehended Aria's instructions, and the young awoken girl left the room. Ash pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed, and placed her feet on the ground. She looked over at Whip who had activated as soon as he'd heard the pillow's impact on Ash's face.

"You need to be more alert, Whip. I can't keep being woken up through unwelcome means." The Ghost rotated his eye 360 degrees, in a rolling motion. "Oh, poor you. First tragedy befell you when an innocent guy stumbled across you naked, and now I failed to protect you from a pillow assassin. What shame I feel." Though the Ghost's attitude was heavily sarcastic to say the least, Ash almost appreciated it. It gave the floating AI a personality, and a sense of individualism. She felt like she was talking to another person when she conversed with him, unlike the few times she'd talked to a frame in her time at the Tower, as they were simply programmed to respond to your behavior.

"She is right, you know. You should get a move on, or all the good bounties will be taken." With a nod, Ash stood up and walked to the exit.

-X-

An hour and 200 Glimmer later, Ash wore a full set of Titan armor. She'd bought it from the Vanguard Quartermaster during the shopping spree she and Matt had shared. Her new armor had a red and white color scheme, and was called Agema. Well, some model of Agema, but she hadn't kept track of the serial number. She'd just thought it looked sturdy, and had picked it up. It was comfortable to say the least, not her first priority of course, but it was definitely a damn good bonus.

Matt examined his new armor as well. He'd replaced his Ghost generated plates with a set called 'Stratus White'. It was blue and white, and surprisingly fit in well together as a color palette. "I like the feel of this," he said. "It's nice and comfortable. It even regulates my temperature, keeping me cool." With a glance to the left side of her HUD, Ash indeed noticed that there was a digital thermometer that was set at constant temp of around seventy five degrees.

In addition to their defensive purchases, they'd bought a few weapons to help keep them on the offense as well. Matt now carried a silver hand cannon in a holster, part of a belt that he clipped around his waist. There were multiple pockets to the thing, leaving Ash with the assumption that some were likely where Matt would end up keeping grenades and ammo. She herself handled a scout rifle, JIGOKU class. She'd tested it out with the gunsmith before buying it. She appreciated the ranged weapon's stability, and she felt a cool sense of lethality every time she handled it. She also had bought a shotgun, preferring close quarters combat to the stealthy approach that Matt had tried to take. He was now waiting on an order for a sniper rifle. Aria had already bought herself a few weapons before she'd even woken the other two up. She carried a pulse rifle on her back, attached to her with an adjustable buckle strap.

"So, are we ready?" Ash looked at her two friends, and wondered if they were finally prepared to venture into the wilderness, officially carrying out their first mission together as a fireteam. Aria just looked excited to be where she was, with her gear ready to go, and her helmet in hand at her side. Aria couldn't read Matt's expression through his helmet visor, but she had a feeling that he was looking at the three of them with pride.

"Yeah, we're ready. Let's go."

They walked towards the Frame that the Vanguards had talked about, standing in front of a large electronic monitor. His metal head turned towards the sound of them approaching. "Greetings, I am Xander 99-40, bounty tracker of the tower. Is there anything I can help you with Guardians?" Matt looked at the curious droid's face- if you could call metal beams and a sensory plate a face. "Yes, we're just checking in on the daily bounties. Is there anything we can do?"

'Why, certainly!" The Frame reached its hand into a satchel at its side, and pulled out a small notebook with several leaflets in it. "There's a need for someone to harvest the spinmetal around the forgotten shore… there's an area that needs to be scouted near the edge of the city walls… and there's a roaming pack of Fallen that were spotted around two hours ago. Which ones would you like?" Matt thought for a moment, and then said, "Give us the two about the city wall and the Fallen enemies. We'll take care of both." 'Splendid! Here you are." Once again, Matt saw a prompt appear on his wrist interface. Upon clicking 'confirm', he now saw a small progress meter, tracking his accomplishments. He heard Aria's and Ash's interfaces beep as well, and he presumed they were checking their own as he had done.

"Traveler's light go with you!" Xander now turned to another Guardian and began to assist them in their bounty search.

"Well, we've got our mission. Seraph, can you bring the ship around?" The Ghost materialized, nodded, and then vanished again. It took a few moments, but the three Guardians began to hear the increasing sound of a ship's engines, and they looked up and over the edge of the Tower to see their black and silver ship fly over the courtyard and hover there for a moment. Blue lights appeared and surrounded their bodies, as Seraph transmatted them into the cockpit of the ship. There were two chairs in front of the flight console, seats for the pilot and co-pilot. Another seat was positioned directly behind the first two, about four feet back. This one seemed more of a passenger seat than anything.

Shuffling about, Ash found herself in the pilot's chair, with Matt in the co-pilot's, and Aria in the passenger seat. Then Ash brought up an unforeseen problem.

"Uh, guys? Do any of us know how to fly?" Upon seeing their blank stares, Whip materialized, and explained, "Don't worry about that, we Ghosts can handle this one." Aria's own AI companion appeared as well, and nodded in the air. "Oh yes, we Ghosts are more than capable of flying aerial craft."

Giving the other Ghost an odd look, Whip turned back to the Guardians. "When we get back to the tower later, we can help teach you. It's really not that hard once you get the hang of it." Again, Aria's Ghost interrupted, saying, "As easy as riding a bike! Or, so the human saying goes."

Whip turned back to the Ghost. "My, you're just a parroting little echo, aren't you?" "I beg your pardon?" cried the other Ghost indignantly. The three Guardians snickered, to his embarrassment. "I am not some mimicking idiot!" "Well, you're sure giving it a good try. Echo, the redundant Ghost." At this, Aria couldn't help but laughing through her masked seriousness. Her Ghost gave her a withering stare, or as much of one as they could do without facial features. "Go ahead, laugh my young Guardian! See if I try to help you three later…" "Oh come on, Echo…" Aria wiped away her tears of laughter as she now used the nickname given to him. "We're only teasing. Don't be so stuck up."

Grumbling, the Ghost dematerialized. Whip shook himself, and glanced back at the trio in the seats before him. "Anyway, like I said we can pilot this thing. Just make sure you get your safety harnesses fastened, we're gonna be going a little fast." The three of them scrambled to correctly hook up their buckles and belts. No sooner had they finished when the ship began to accelerate.

Down in the courtyard of the Tower, other Guardians watched the jet-like ship pick up speed and fly off into the sky, until it was no more than a black speck in the distance.

-X-

Aria looked at the monitors that adorned the interior of the bridge. Some were connected to external cameras, and she could see the rocky and barren, though beautiful in its own way, landscape rush by as the Javelin flew past it all in a blur. Gazing out at the front viewport, she saw a section of the large walls of the City grow larger to her surprise.

"Hey, why are we heading towards the wall?" Ash and Matt, both of whom had been engaged with a conversation with each other, turned back towards the window and saw that she was right. "Hey yeah, what gives? I thought we were taking care of those Fallen roamers first." Seraph materialized in front of his face. "Well, we are. In an odd chance of coincidence and probably convenience, from what I've been able to gather from the Fallen comm chatter, the pack that was seen scavenging around has been headed here, towards the area we need to scout."

Matt looked at her, his helmet hiding his eyebrows that he'd just pulled together. "I wonder why that is. What is it about the area that warrants a need to investigate it?" Seraph's blue light pulsed again as she checked her information. "Apparently odd noises, weird occurrences nearby. My personal guess; another group of Fallen is living inside that section of the wall, and this group is journeying over to visit. Whether it's to exchange materials or what, I can't say for certain." Matt nodded. "Well then, in that case we may be able to kill two birds with one stone."

Suddenly, Whip's voice emitted from the internal speakers of the Javelin; "Alright you three, I'm going to transmat you down to the ground when we're low enough. Seraph and I can keep the Javelin nearby, while Aria's Echo there, accompanies you down. You should have at least one Ghost with you." "Wait, why aren't you or Seraph coming with? It's not like you need two Ghosts to fly the ship, you're living algorithms," asked Ash suspiciously. Whip hesitated a moment and then began, "Well, there's a few variables that we haven't accounted for, and I'm of the opinion that perhaps it'd be a safer bet to-"

"Oh my God, you think we might fail!" Ash's accusing tone, followed by Whip's silence confirmed her guess, and in an effort to divert attention, he began the countdown. "Transmatting in 3…2…1…"

The blue grids reappeared, and the next thing Matt saw was the Russian landscape, slightly blanketed with snow. The next thing he heard was Ash muttering, "Coward…" "C'mon," he urged, pointing at some tracks in the snow. "I can't say I know exactly what Fallen footprints look like, but those ones sure as hell aren't human or any kind of animal that I know." He began to trek across the ground, following the trail that the roaming Fallen had left behind. Trusting their human companion, both Ash and Aria followed, each behind and to either side of Matt, forming a triangle.

It took them nearly half an hour to reach the borders of the wall. From a small hilltop closely, they spied a group of Fallen next to a small section of the wall, simply standing there. It was Ash's first time seeing the aliens in person, and they pretty much matched the description that Aria and Matt had given her; four arms each, with armor covering most of their body, save for the ones she and Matt and learned were called 'Dregs', the ones with only two arms and docking caps covering their lower two stumps. The fully limbed class members were referred to as Vandals. Ash could see another one that looked similar to a Vandal, though noticeably larger, and armed with some kind of cannon in its arms. She wasn't entirely impressed with them, going by the simple philosophy that an enemy was an enemy, and had to be killed either way, so why worry about its appearance? She was more concerned about their strength and skill, and wondered how she would handle against them in combat. She'd practiced with her scout rifle, but these were moving, defiant targets. Much tougher to shoot.

"So? What's our plan of attack?" Aria was looking at Matt, her Warlock's helmet tilted up to allow her a better angle. Ash was slightly curious as to why Aria immediately assumed Matt was leading for a moment, before reasoning that since Matt had been the only one to actually fight these things so far, it was logical for him to guide them with their attack. She held her pride, and awaited his order.

"Well, from what I've seen, their heads are pretty weak. I know that sounds like a stereotypical thing to say, but it's true. They look like they've got a lot less armor around their head and eyes than they do with the layers upon layers on their torso and limbs. In addition to that, I've seen this white, vapor-like gas leak out when their heads are gone. I'd say that their skulls aren't very thick, and probably don't need to many bullets before they pop." With a nod from each of his two associates, he continued. "I'd say that we get in close, around 30 yards from them, and just open up. They'll be hitting the ground before they even know we're there." Though Ash would have preferred to go straight up to them and smack them in their ugly faces, she saw the safety in his stealth approach.

The Guardians took a bit more time to position themselves behind a small incline that was roughly about the distance away from the pirates that Matt had suggested. They unslung their weapons, and laid down on the ground. Matt was laying in the center, with Ash up next to him on his left, and Aria on his right. He positioned his hand cannon on the ground in front of him, gripped in his right hand, and held up his left with three fingers up. Slowly, he removed his fingers one by one, until there was nothing but a closed fist, and all three Guardians opened hell upon the unsuspecting Fallen.

He immediately noticed several trails of the white substance burst from the heads of those who had fallen victim to the scout rifle and hand cannon. The pulse rifle rounds had a greater spread, and impacted against their chests and limbs, bruising and stunning the enemies for a few moments, before the other two precision weapons fired and finished them off.

Within ten seconds, the group of nearly fifteen vandals and dregs had been reduced to four, not including the Captain who had not gone down under the hail of bullets, and roared at them from their hidden position on the raised incline.

"Reloading," said Aria, making sure to alert her teammates that she was replacing the magazine in her rifle. Matt and Ash began to do the same, but blue bolts of arc energy peppered the ground in front of them, kicking up dust and reducing their visibility as the remaining vandals fired at them with their wire rifles. "No time, they've spotted us," called out Ash. She stood up and began to charge the five remaining enemies, much to the dismay of Matt who had just begun to protest her stepping out of cover. Shaking his head, he turned to Aria beside him. "Give us some covering fire, alright? I'm gonna help her out here, make sure she doesn't get killed." Without waiting for her response, the Hunter ran after the trigger happy Titan that looked like she was about to take them all on singlehandedly.

The young Warlock lined up her shot, ready to defend her friends if necessary.

Ash reached the vandals and dregs, and cocked her fist back, bracing herself for the punch she was about to throw. One of the dregs rushed to meet her with an shock dagger, but it stumbled under the impact of rounds that Aria had fired from her support position. It looked off towards the source of the bullets just long enough for Ash to take advantage of the distraction and ram her fist directly into the side of its head, instantly caving in its skull and killing it. Its corpse flew backward a few feet from the sheer force, and she took the time that she had with no enemies to reload her scout rifle.

A vandal ran towards her, but was forced to halt as Ash's ammunition tore through his armor and exited through his back. He fell like a sack of bricks. Two down.

The last two, a pair of vandals, readied themselves with their shock blades in hand, but their growls of challenge had barely began before a few shots from Matt's hand cannon came from the left and caused their heads to explode in a burst of white gas. Their two unarmed limbs shot up at their neck, a nerve reaction, to clutch at the empty space where their brains had used to reside. Ash grinned inside her helmet, until she felt a small shake in the ground, and realized she'd forgotten about the Captain.

Turning around, she was just fast enough to see the Fallen's burly arm backhand her, and the impact sent her flying backwards a few feet. Readjusting her aim, she began to fire at the large enemy in front of her, keeping it at bay until Matt jumped on its back, having used its focused attention on Ash to slip around it undetected. Pulling a knife from a sheath in his belt, Matt used his hand gripping the chin of the beast to arch its head back, exposing its throat. With as much force as he could gather, he thrusted the knife into its neck with his other arm. The Captain began to make choking noised, as it bled internally and began to drown in its own blood. It fell to its knees as soon as Matt dismounted, and yanked the knife out its throat. This only gave the blood more room to flow, and in doing so, caused the Fallen Captain to bleed out even more quickly. Matt retrieved his knife from the hand of the still heaving form of the doomed Captain, now laying on the ground, and placed it back in its sheath. Then he glanced over at Ash.

"Look, the last thing I want to do is berate you for what you did, because regardless of what it was, it was badass and brave. But you've got to remember that you're not a one man army, and when you're up in close like that without us to back you up, you might be on your own." Ash wanted to argue that she'd won, but then remembered that she'd only wounded the Captain enough for Matt to drive his blade into it, meaning she'd had help. In fact, she'd needed help with almost all of her would-be victims, from Aria's supporting fire, to Matt's life-saving precision shots. She kept her mouth shut, and only nodded at the Hunter, scared to admit how right he may have been.

Matt nodded back in acknowledgement of her acceptance, and turned to look at Aria, now walking over from their original position.

"That was some nice covering fire from what I could see. Good job." The Awoken girl nodded in acceptance of his praise, and then gazed over at the wall. "So this is what these Fallen were looking at?" In the side of the wall was a large crack, opening into a room of darkness. She could smell something odd in there, almost rotting. The newly dubbed 'Echo' materialized in front of her.

"That would be correct, Guardian. This is also the entrance to the section of the wall we need to investigate as well." Echo looked at the wall, then at Matt. "Make sure to mark the bounty as complete on your interface, now that we've taken out the Fallen." Bringing his wrist up to his face, Matt tapped a few commands into the device, then lowered it again.

"We're supposed to go in there? We don't know what could be in there at all, it's pitch black." The Ghost activated a small light that shone from his eye, providing a potential light source. "It smells. Bad." Aria's input was small, though accurate. Matt noticed that too, some kind of stench that reminded him of roadkill. But the City needed these coordinates scouted, so he was going to do it. With a glance at Ash and an accompanying shrug, he began to walk into the opening. After a frustrated action of throwing her hands into the air to express her disapproval, Ash too entered the crack. Aria followed closely behind with Echo, who now became a beacon of light in the dark.

The room they were in was completely devoid of any light source. The only visibility came from the light shining out of Echo's eye, illuminating the dark corners and walls. The interior of the wall was filled with pillars and railed off platforms connected with catwalks and metal staircases. Their boots produced soft clangs against the metal floor out of the silence. The place was definitely eerie, that was for sure.

"I've never seen any kind of Fallen camp be styled this way," said Echo, now talking to both himself and the Guardians, trying to work through the unusual circumstances with logical reasoning. "They almost always have at least a little light, so that others can see their banners and the trophies of their victims. This place is just blackness, like a solid shadow." Suddenly, Matt stopped.

"Guys, look at this." Matt rubbed his gloved finger on one of the pillars in the darkness. When he pulled it away, the rest of them could see a black substance, seemingly both liquid goo and evaporating gas come away with it, stuck adhesively to his finger. Shaking his hand, he threw it off vigorously. "Whoa, that feels…wrong. Just…wrong." When he touched it, he'd felt sick, like he was coming down with some kind of illness. The nauseating feeling subsided as soon as all traces of the material had left his hand. "I don't like this," said Aria, her voice becoming traitor and giving away how unsettled she felt.

Out of nowhere, all three Guardians detected the same thing; movement. Spinning around to line up their line of sight with the radar on their HUD's, they saw a quick flash of something grayish white in the darkness, illuminated for a brief second under the Ghost's light. "Guys…" began Matt, but before he could say anything else, his radar exploded with activity.

It's motion detector showed that enemies were all around, surrounding them, even next to them. But he couldn't see anyone. Echo turned frantically from side to side, obviously receiving the same information as the Guardians' trackers. In a flash, an idea crept into Matt's brain and took residence, refusing to leave. Slowly, he glanced over the side of the catwalk they were on.

Gripping onto the side of the catwalk were bony, skeletal hands that looked as though they were malnourished, and completely devoid of life. He just yelled, attracting attention towards the shocking sight. At his signal of becoming aware, the hands that belonged to a larger body began to pull the rest of the creature that they were connected to up and over the railing's side. It landed on the natal floor with a thump, and Matt nearly lost it.

The creature in front of him was humanoid, but looked sick, and twisted. It had no eyes, just a body and skin that looked as though it could be torn apart with the fragility of paper. It screamed at him with a single mouth lined with broken and decaying teeth. It sounded like a person being tortured in the worst possible ways.

"Thrall!" cried Echo, and he grew his radius of light larger, illuminating even more of the terrifying creatures that had been hidden in the darkness. Frankly Matt didn't care _what_ they were called, as long as the one standing in front of him soon became a dead one.

He brought his foot up and quickly extended it with a large amount of force directly into its chest, propelling the beast over the side of the catwalk and into the dark depths below. The amount of force he'd given had nearly punched through its abdomen, and he again thought of the comparison to paper for skin.

Ash and Aria wasted no time with melee, and instead opted to unload magazines of bullets upon the small army that surrounded them. Matt brought his hand cannon up, and began to follow their examples, filling the thralls that had begun to throw themselves at the Guardians like suicide squads with lead, and ending their attempts before they'd even begun. Ash had switched to her shotgun, and was proceeding to blow ten-inch holes in the torsos of the creatures, rocketing them backwards from the explosive force of the metal pellets.

"Look around for a floating one of these things, that's a wizard! All of the thralls' wills are connected to its mind! You kill the Wizard, you kill the thralls!" Matt began to look around as he continued to fire into the waves of skeletal enemies, until he spied it about fifteen feet in front of Ash, waving its arms in the air in what looked very much like a puppeteer controlling a series of marionettes. "Ash, twelve 'o' clock! Take it out!" he yelled. Ash glanced slightly upward, saw the ghostly threat, and raised her rifle, firing shot after shot into its forehead. It wasn't too long until the rounds took their toll and punched a hole through the Wizard's face. It disintegrated in midair with a high pitched scream, orange contrails escaping the glowing cracks that formed in its body before it turned to nothing but dust and ash.

Almost as if on cue, the bodies of the thralls began to crumple, falling over one another until they ceased to move, and they too evaporated into the air. Without another word, the three Guardians and Ghost sprinted towards the exit, back the way they'd come.

Though it only took a few seconds, it felt like hours to Matt, and he wanted nothing more but to escape this hell hole back into the light of the sun. With another few stride, he did just that, and he tripped in his haste, sprawling across the ground, before scrambling back up to look and make sure Ash and Aria had come through safely. Their chests heaved as well, all three of them stunned and nonplussed from what had just happened.

"What the hell were those things?!" Matt jabbed a finger at the crack, indicating he was referring to the hellish creatures they'd just killed.

"That, was the Hive." Echo flew forward from his normal position hovering around Aria's shoulder, and looked at Matt. "They are another of the Darkness's several armies. We lost the moon to them, as they burrowed beneath it and now inhabit it. We'd hoped that would be enough for them, but apparently not. They haven't been on Earth in centuries, this has to be the first recorded encounter since the Collapse."

"So, what'd you call the individual creatures? Thrall?" Matt tried to remember the terminology that the Ghost had used. "Yes, the creatures that were being used as cannon fodder are called 'Thralls'. That one that flew above them, controlling them? That's a 'Wizard'."

"So we killed the Wizard, but why'd the thrall die?"

"Because their life force is tied into the Wizard's consciousness. She conjured them up, therefore they obey the will of her mind." "Conjured them up?" The Ghost looked uncomfortable at Matt's question, before continuing on to explain, "Well, from what we've gathered data wise, all indications point to the thrall being humans or other creatures that have been revived by the Darkness instead of the light."

At this, all there Guardians were silent. Matt thought about the possibility of them having become a thrall instead of a Guardian if he'd been revived by a Wizard instead of Seraph. He shuddered. To take his mind off of the frightening images that kept popping up in his mind, he brought up his interface and marked the bounty as 'complete'.

"We finished what we came here for, now it's time to head back. We need to tell the Vanguards about this if what you said about the Hive is true, Echo." He spoke into his interface, alerting Seraph and Whip to their position. "Hey, we finished the job. We need pickup pronto. Something's come up."

-X-

"The Hive? Are you sure, Guardians?" Ikora Rey's face failed to mask the worry and concern she was feeling. "Positive. We had no idea what they were, but Aria's Ghost correctly identified them as 'Thralls' and a 'Wizard'. We wouldn't have known to kill the Wizard otherwise." All three of the Vanguard's listened to Matt's report, and turned to face each other. Cayde-6 turned to Matt and explained how they felt about the situation.

"The Hive are probably one of, if not the most prominent of the Darkness's armies. They don't have any other loyalty or obligation other than to fulfill the wishes of the Darkness by consuming all light in the universe. To think that they might be beginning to move on from the moon and attack here…" Cayde's motors gave an involuntary shudder. "It's not the most pleasant of possibilities we have to consider."

Aria looked around the table of veteran Vanguards and began to speak. "Well, from what we've seen it's only been this one section of the wall that's been compromised. But we don't know for sure. Is there any way we can find out what the Hive are up to?" Ikora's face concentrated in thought, and then turned pale at the realization of a possible course of action. "Yes, there's something we could do, but it's incredibly dangerous, not to mention far away from support." Ash stepped forward before the Warlock could protest. "We're Guardians now, ma'am. We need to take as many risks as are necessary to defend the City. What needs to be done?"

Ikora took a deep breath, and said, "Inside the Hive's fortress is a library. We learned this from another Guardian who was stationed on the moon for a few months, instructed to study them and observe their military force. Within this library, the Hive keep all of their records. Much of it is likely gibberish and religious babble worshipping the Darkness, but some of it may be useful to see why they could be moving into an offensive position on Earth."

"And where is this library?" asked Matt, dreading the answer that he already knew she was going to say.

"Inside the Hellmouth, the Hive's pit of their lair. You're going to have to go into the moon."

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter was somewhat shorter because I'm making the next one longer, as it has a lot of content to cover. Remember that if you're enjoying the story, to follow/favorite it, and leave reviews or questions in the Reviews section!


	5. Into the Dark

Aria sat in silence. Fastened in place in each of their respective places on the Javelin, her fireteam said not a word as they flew through warp-space. Blue lights and dancing waves passed by the exterior of the ship in a beautiful display, but she wasn't paying attention, nor would she have cared even if she had been.

Though the trip was only estimated to last around twelve minutes for them to reach the moon, it felt like hours. Hours of time to dwell on their mission and imagine all the possible horrors that awaited them, to think of every possible outcome that could go wrong. She thought back to the conversation they'd had with Ikora Rey…

" _Alright, so we journey to the moon? And then what, link up with the Guardian you stationed there?" The Vanguards gave their signature 'turn and look at each other in understanding', and then she faced them again, her eyes filled with worry. She spoke in the manner that a doctor did when delivering terrible news to a patient; "Not quite. He_ was _stationed on the moon, until we lost contact with him nearly a week ago. These recent events in such close alignment can't be a coincidence. If you happen to find him, it will be a miracle. But I fear the worst may have happened to him…"_

Aria wondered if that would happen to them if something were to go wrong; would they lose contact, only to be forgotten and isolated on the moon, turned into a frightening tale to scare other Guardians? She shuddered at the thought of becoming a legend of death.

"Aaaaaand, we're here. Welcome to the moon." None of the three Guardians onboard celebrated this momentous occasion, and instead stared out at the massive white rock, split down the side with a crack that covered nearly half of it, giving it the appearance of an broken nut. "Whip, transfer controls to manual." Ash gripped her pilot's controls, and began to enter the terraformed atmosphere of the moon that gave it its normal feeling gravity. Whip and Seraph had attempted to introduce their Guardian companions to the world of flight, and though all three were now learned in the art of aviation, Ash had shown a real knack for it, picking up the aerial piloting with ease.

Their descent was fast and efficient. Ash saw the ground rushing up to meet her, and she pulled out of her dive in an upward arc, losing her momentum. She circled around the general area for a bit, until what they were looking for showed up on one of the external cameras; to their starboard side, nearly a mile away in distance, was an enormous hole in the side of the moon. Green, noxious gases rose out of the pit, before dissolving in the oxygen-lacking atmosphere. Whether they were from flames or toxic fumes, Ash didn't care. The sight was a creepy one, and that was all she cared about. But unfortunately, their risky plan involved the hellish pit if they were going to enter the Hive fortress undetected.

She moved the ship over until it hovered around twenty feet above the ground, and a few hundred yards from the edge of the Hellmouth. "Alright, you can take them." Seraph assumed control of the ship, with Echo watching the external monitors. Whip would be the Ghost accompanying them down. After they'd discussed the plan with the young Ghost, she'd agreed on the condition that, _'the next time you're on a mission, I'm coming with. I still haven't gotten to be in on any of the action!'_

"Prepare for Transmat in 3…2…1…" Ash readied herself in a standing position, and was prepared by the sudden foot high drop that she faced when Seraph teleported her and the other two. She watched Matt check his gear, and give a thumbs up. Aria nodded as well, to signal that she had her things as well. As for Ash, well she had what they needed wrapped in loops around her shoulder and forearm.

They walked in silence to the cliff, occasionally kicking a rock to break the silence, though no reprieve came. Upon reaching the Hellmouth, Matt peered over the edge of the pit, and stared into the depths below. He couldn't see any kind of ground from up on the ledge, and the glowing green mist blocked any kind of visibility he may have had if the height hadn't been so great. He turned to his friends.

"Well, there's no telling how far down that fall is, other than it'll likely kill us if we slip. Are we ready to go through with this?" Aria nodded, and Ash patted the grappling cables slung around her arm. Matt nodded, and held open his hand to take the hooks of the cables that Ash had passed him. Whip pointed out a cluster of rocks that would be very hard to shake loose, and with some effort, Matt wedged the tri-hooked metal pieces into the cracks. He gripped the ropes and tugged at them one by one, to test their durability. They did not budge.

"Alright, it's showtime people. I'll head down first, then Aria, then Ash. Whip, you give me updates on everyone's status, and just fly around to check and make sure none of us are in trouble. Try not to attract any attention if you can." The Ghost silently nodded, as the seriousness of the task they were about to perform weighed down even on him, and forced him to repress his usual jokes. Matt hooked himself up to the rope end of his grappling line, then walked over to the very edge of the pit. He saw a promising trail of hand and foot-holds, and began to climb down the side of the Hellmouth's inner walls.

The rocky outcrops were somewhat slippery from the green mist, and he had to hold even tighter onto the rocks to prevent his grip from slipping. Though they had the ropes, there weren't any stopping mechanisms, meaning that they were mostly for psychological comfort and from stopping them from falling into the pit. But even if the ropes did stop their fall, a fall of nearly one hundred and fifty feet, the length of their lines, might snap their backs or even kill them without slowing restraints. Ignoring the horrendous possibilities which threatened to consume his mind with fear, he reached over to grab the next handhold, and began his descent of nearly two hundred feet to the first physically stable platforms below.

As Matt moved down further, Aria too began to climb down the side of the Hellmouth, and eventually as did Ash, until finally all three Guardians were making their way silently and stealthily toward the Circle of Bones below. The wall Matt held onto, having at first remained completely vertical for the first forty feet or so down into the pit, now began to angle in, leaving him in an incline where he hung onto the side rather than stood on it. Cursing, he continued his slow but sure progress into the depths.

He could hear Aria breathing heavily from behind and above him, straining her muscles to keep her grip on the slippery outcrops. Whip hovered down to Matt's side and whispered to him, "Both Ash and Aria have a death grip on the wall, though they as well as yourself, seem to be tiring." Matt nodded, unable to waste any breath to respond. Indeed, his muscles were burning from the effort required to stay on the small hand and foot-holds. He remembered a few TV shows from his earlier life where people had to use their strength and muscular skills to overcome incredible feats like hand only rock-climbing, hanging from bars and ladders, and generally keep their stamina up so that they could keep moving across obstacle courses. If there was ever a contestant to win one of those shows, Matt was sure he was one-upping them with his current operation.

Suddenly, he heard a gravelly noise, and turned to his left to see a small rock come falling off the side of the wall, nearly fifteen feet away. He glanced up to see Aria's right leg searching wildly for another foothold as her previous one had just crumbled under her weight. Eventually she found one, and took a few seconds to catch her breath. He admired the way she'd refrained from making any kind of sound, from screaming or crying out in shock. The girl had guts, that was for sure. He looked back to his right and below as he continued to climb. There was only another thirty feet between him and the platform below, and he gritted his teeth, pushing his strength to the maximum and keeping his hold on the wall as he descended.

After another five minutes, Matt finally extended his foot to the right and touched ground. Heaving himself onto the platform, he felt his legs give out from under him, and he laid on the ground, forcing oxygen into his lungs so that his muscle stamina could return. Another few minutes passed, and he heard Aria make a grunting noise as she leapt onto the platform where Matt began to stand up again, having regained most of the feeling in his legs and arms. He watched her fall onto the ground in exhaustion, mimicking his earlier action. Now only Ash needed to reach the ground, and he gazed up above to track her progress down the upward slope.

Suddenly as she hung onto the edge of a particularly slippery outcrop, Matt watched Ash lose her grip and begin to fall into the depths below, his heart catching in his throat. Lukcily, she'd only had around fifteen feet of slack left, and she reached the end of her tether, and began to swing back like a pendulum. She was still a good twenty feet above the platform, her line having been tangled on some other rocks that extended out the side of the wall, and she swung back and forth in the air, nothing for her to hold onto, or to slow her movement with.

Aria now watched at Matt's side in worry as well. If Ash didn't do something, she was going to lose her momentum, and she'd be stuck out in the air, unable to move. Quickly Matt waved at her, grabbing her attention, and made a cutting motion, implying she slice the cable. She threw her empty hands up in a hopeless gesture, showing she didn't have one. Pulling his knife from his sheath, Matt gripped it by the blade, and aimed at Ash. She understood, and made her arms available to catch it. Reading off a silent prayer in his mind, Matt tossed the knife up the twenty feet, and watched it begin to arc down under gravity's influence-

Ash caught it by the handle, and waved at Matt showing she was ready. Matt got ready to give her the command, seeing that any momentum she had was quickly waning. On her next swing towards the platform, Matt made a swipe with his hand, and Ash cut the line in one motion.

Immediately she began to fall, and he saw that she hadn't had enough inertia to reach the platform. Out of sheer hope, he sprinted to the edge and slid forward on his stomach, reaching out his arm as she fell in front of him, and closing his grasp around her wrist with an unyielding grip.

Her weight instantly began to drag him over the edge with her, but he spread his legs, increasing his drag on the ground to slow himself before he went completely over. It was enough, and though his torso and arms hung off the edge, pulled down by Ash's body, his waist and below remained firmly planted on the platform. Ash looked at him with wide eyes, trying not to make any kind of noise, but completely and utterly terrified at the thought of falling, and Matt suddenly knew in his mind that he was _not_ going to let her fall, no matter what. He reached his other arm above him to grab the ledge of the platform, and began to pull himself up into a better position to retrieve Ash.

Aria grabbed his legs and assisted in pulling him away from the edge. Once his chest was again on the platform, he gave his last burst of strength to pull Ash up until she too gripped the ledge and heaved herself onto solid ground. He fell back onto the ground as she collapsed next to him, and shook silently in terror at the ordeal. The whole event had lasted no more than fifteen seconds, but it felt as though time itself had stopped when she fell.

Without thinking, he reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to look at him, appreciative of the comfort he was providing her. Her face probably looked as though she wanted to cry, but of course she couldn't as an Exo. She could only look at Matt and silently mouth, _thank you_ , as she embraced the feel of his hand reassuringly on her shoulder.

Matt hated to break her out of her recovery, but they had to get moving. He looked at her and gave her a questioning thumbs up with his other hand, asking if she was ready to go. She took only a moment's hesitation, and nodded, perhaps a bit forcefully.

He stood up and extended his hand to her. She took it gratefully, and allowed him to help her back up on her feet. He glanced over at Aria who had been conversing quietly with Whip. The Ghost flew over, and told Matt what they'd been talking about. "Right now, we're in the Circle of Bones. We need to make our way around the Forgotten Swarm to a chamber called the World's Grave. That's where the library is, according to the last known records of the previous Guardian. If the Hive catch us, they'll raise an alarm, and you're going to need a lot more than your exit strategy to get out of here alive."

Matt nodded, showing he understood the gravity of their predicament. "Which way?" Instead of responding, Whip simply began to fly towards a large twelve foot doorway on the far left side of the Circle. The three Guardians followed him as quietly as they could, stopping every now and then to evade a patrolling pair or two of Acolytes, the main soldiers of the Hive. They made slow progress, but eventually reached Whip at the doorway, and entered through it.

After traversing a series of tunnels and hallways, the fireteam found themselves in a fairly large room, with a pool of dark water-like liquid situated on the ground, and a staircase leading up to an organ-looking device. It was golden, and looked more like some kind of instrument than a library of the Hive's records. Still, he supposed their architecture was likely different from that of his own, the reason being that their species consisted of goddamn sorcerers and sadistic religious freaks who worshipped an entity bent on humanity's destruction.

Whip looked at the console of gadgets and machinery in that made up the control board of the library. "I can start to rip files whenever you want, but be warned; this thing looks like its important, and that usually means that alarms are likely going to go off as soon as I touch this thing." The three looked at each other once, and then Matt turned to the Ghost, determination in his voice; "Do it."

A blue beam shot from Whip's eye, penetrating the outer shell of the library and reaching the mysterious files inside. The Ghost began to absorb information, expanding slightly as he did so. Matt had expected some kind of alarm to start ringing, but he didn't hear anything at all. Silence didn't mean that there weren't any alarms though, it just meant he couldn't hear them, and hopefully that if something _was_ hearing them, that they would take a long time before reaching the three Guardians who stood ready to face off against whatever opponents the Hive had to throw at them.

He still didn't see or hear anything coming from the doorway that they'd entered from, but that didn't stop him from detecting motion to his lower left. He turned his head to stare at the pond of dark, blackish water. He wondered what had caught his attention before he saw a thrall rising from below the depths, its body forming as it began to step out from the pool and land on the ground with a wet, muddy _smack._

"They're coming out of the pool!" he yelled, and he turned to his left to face down the many thrall who were beginning to appear from the black liquid and move in to attack.

Ash and Aria shifted their aim to the thralls below, and opened fire. Bullets peppered their bodies and the water, shooting droplets of liquid mixed with thrall insides into the air. Now the sound came, as the thralls began to scream their tortured sounds of agony. "There's so much in here, they've broken the Bekenstein limit!" Matt heard Whip say from somewhere behind him. He ignored it before he began to wonder what the hell the Bekenstein limit was, and just focused on keeping the thralls at bay while the Ghost worked. There were too many popping up though, and he knew that if Whip didn't finish soon, that their position at the top of the stairs would be overwhelmed.

"Any day now!" he called, hoping to urge the Ghost to work a bit faster. "Hold on, I've almost… there! I've got all the data that was in there, let's get out of here!"

Matt didn't need to be told twice. He stopped firing just long enough for he and his two companions to break away, and escape through the doorway that they'd originally entered in. Thrall continued to pour out of the pool, and though there'd been a minute respite as the thralls tried to follow their movement, they now came at the Guardians in full force, forming a large horde of death and decay behind them.

The Guardians sprinted through the corridors, following their escape strategy toward an exit that the previously stationed Guardian's records marked as 'The Temple of Crota'. Though it wasn't the _only_ way out, it was by far the closest and fastest, so it was where they headed.

They continued to run and sprint with the onslaught of thralls unrelentingly chasing them throughout the passageways. Finally, after jumping out of a small pit onto a ledge above, Matt saw that the exit was roughly only a hundred feet away, beckoning to them. He almost laughed at how close escape was.

Then the Acolytes and Knights that had been hidden behind all the pillars in the room stepped out of cover, and he felt his resolve dissolve faster than it had appeared.

Ash and Aria turned to the sound of the border of thralls rapidly approaching from the tunnels below. They too saw the unconquerable force that had gathered to ambush them, armed with large cannons and shredders. There weren't any odds to be calculated, there _were_ no chances here. Aria raised her rifle, ready to fight to the end, while Ash placed her hand on Matt's shoulder. "Hey, thanks for saving me earlier, when it counted. It was nice while our luck lasted." There was a smile to her voice, and he could tell she had accepted their fate.

As for Matt, he'd done nothing of the sort. He felt his anger grow at his friends' helplessness, at the Hive and their armies preparing to invade Earth, at the fact that Whip would never be able to give the Hive's records over to the Vanguards, and that he, Ash, and Aria would be forgotten, their sacrifices unappreciated by anyone but each other. He felt his rage boil over, and suddenly he was calm. He looked at the Hive with nothing but contempt in his eyes, with an assurance that they were all going to pay for their mistake in thinking they could kill him. Blue sparks traveled up and down his arms, emitting tiny arcs of electricity wherever they appeared.

He didn't know if he was going to make it out of here, but one thing was for goddamn certain; every single Hive son-of-a-bitch that stood in this room was not going to leave it alive. He drew his knife, and charged into the chamber.

He weaved between the ranges of the Knights' swords, dodging every swing and swipe that came his way. Again and again, he drove his electrified knife into the bodies and heads of the Hive spawn that had tried to ambush them, willing his anger to seep into the blade and force the Hive soldiers to understand just how much he hated them before they crumbled away into ashes. Limbs were severed time and time again, and many Acolytes found themselves falling on their faces as their legs were literally ripped out from under them and thrown away. The fight passed around Matt in a blur, who barely even registered what he was doing except that he was showing the Hive who the hell they were dealing with.

Finally, he turned to face the pit that the thrall had finally reached behind Ash and Aria, and threw a grenade into it. Two seconds passed, and suddenly all of the thrall ceased to exist as the flaming explosion engulfed them and instantly vaporized them.

Suddenly, he felt the fight leave his body, and he fell to his knees, exhausted at his furious energy leaving his body in such a quick fashion. Ash rushed over to him, and gripped his shoulders. "Do you realize what you just did?!"

"Gave myself a headache?" guessed Matt, as bells rang inside his brain, threatening to shatter his eardrums. "Well maybe that, but you also just _annihilated_ an entire group of Hive soldiers when we had almost no chance for survival. You saved us!" With a relieved and grateful laugh, Ash suddenly hugged Matt, pulling him closer to her in a tight squeeze that was probably meant to show him her gratitude, but ended up only threatening to break his ribs. "You're welcome, now please let go before you crush my spine!" Ash obliged as Aria watched on, laughing at both the spectacle in front of her, and from the sheer disbelief that they'd managed to survive. Matt turned to her.

"Hey, Aria. You know about Guardians better than either me or Ash here. What the hell did I just do?" She returned his gaze and said thoughtfully, "Well, to me it looked like you drew enough power from your light that you were able to call upon the arc energy of the traveler, and enter a Bladedancer's trance. They're Hunters who wield their arc energy to devastate their opponents through electrified hand-to-hand combat, and it looks like you were able to kick some major ass with it."

Matt nodded, and then pointed toward the now unguarded exit. "Thanks. Now that we've got that out of the way, do we want to leave?"

The trio stepped over the ash piles of the Hive that Matt had killed, and walked back out into the sunlight surface of the moon. Their joy only lasted a moment before Matt pointed to something lying on the ground and said, "Look." Aria followed the direction of his finger to see the body of a Guardian at the doorstep of the temple.

Whip flew over to it, and analyzed it. "There's nothing left… not even the light… but his armor matches the description of the missing Guardian." Aria and the other two gave a moment of silence, in honor of their fallen comrade. "There's no point in trying to bring him back with us, it's just armor and ash that's left. But where's his Ghost? It may have additional data." Aria looked around the area surrounding the body, but saw no trace of it. Both Ash and Matt turned up empty-handed as well. Aria was about to turn and tell Matt and Ash to split up before she saw a figure standing on one of the lunar hills in front of them, gazing down at their search.

It was a female Exo, dressed in Hunter garb. Her face was white, and she wore a ripped cloak around her head and shoulders. She did nothing other than stare at the three Guardians down below. Aria lightly hit Matt with the back of her hand, and pointed at the mysterious stranger. He saw her, and immediately called out, "Hey, who are you? What are you doing here?"

The Exo stranger said nothing, but reached into a pocket of her cloak. She retracted it, and with it pulled out the missing Ghost in her hand. Before anyone could say anything, she brought her arm back, and tossed it to them. Ash caught it with an outstretched arm. The three turned to look at it. It had remnants of the same dark liquid that Matt had found in the wall on Earth, and its eye was cracked. The Ghost was obviously dead, though why the stranger had it in her pocket was a mystery. They turned back to ask, but by the time they'd found where the figure had stood before, she had vanished.

Whip saw the silent exchange, and hovered over to the Ghost. He may not have had any idea who the cloaked Exo was, but he knew how to extract date from deactivated Ghosts for sure, and that's precisely what he began to do. After a few moments, he stopped, and nodded to signal that he had finished. "We should take it back to the city, and reunite it with the traveler's light. With luck, it'll be absorbed and its light will be dispersed to create new Ghosts." Aria looked over towards the unnamed Guardian's body at Whip's suggestion, and whispered sadly, "You're right, Whip. And besides, it's probably what he would have wanted." With heavy hearts and a dead Ghost, they walked out into the lunar landscape, flagging down the Javelin to take them home.

-X-

"Ikora Rey was right, there was a lot of nonsense that was basically just religious text about the Darkness. A lot of the runes are foreign to me though, so maybe we should just give it to the Cryptarch, for him to decipher. He likes challenges like that." Whip debriefed the Guardians on all the info he'd retrieved from the library, as Seraph and Echo listened as well. The ship was on auto-pilot, having been placed into warp-space before the occupants of the Javelin had arranged the makeshift meeting.

"However, there are two big pieces of information that I feel need to be discussed here." He said the next sentence to the three in front of him with a sad, but unsurprised tone in his voice. "Our worst fears are confirmed; the hive are preparing to invade Earth." There was no intake of breath, no sudden gasp from their mouths; they just sat there with grim looks on their faces, and listened. "I got that from the dead Ghost. Most of its files were gone, erased as part of a fail-safe maneuver, but it managed to save key pieces of information until the bitter end. It had been tortured by a Wizard before its death, and I've got all the dialogue here. It's pretty gruesome stuff for a Ghost, and I'd rather not go into it in detail." Whip shuddered. "But basically, the Wizard asked continuous questions about our defenses, our weak points, possible areas of invasion to enter the City, that sort of stuff."

"Now, the second piece of info here is kind of big, but also very confusing. The library's records tell of some being, some entity that communicates between the Darkness and the Hive, issuing the Darkness's orders to the Hive army. There's no name here, but whoever it is, they're referred to as 'the Messenger'. This go-between apparently relays all of the Darkness's thoughts to the Hive, and they follow its orders without question. Our next priority should be tracking down this 'Messenger', and ending them."

"What about the Exo stranger we saw?" piped up Aria, considering the possibility. "She had the dead Ghost on her, and gave no explanation for her appearance. Could she be the Messenger?" Whip was already shaking his body. "No, I thought about that. While I still wonder how she got that dead Ghost, it wouldn't make sense for her to immediately give it to us without us even asking, and let us see the Hive's plan for Earth if she was the architect behind the attack. She's definitely involved here, though in what way I'm unsure of, but she's not the one we're looking for." Aria sat back down in a slouch, back to square one on figuring out this new mystery that they'd been given.

Seraph glanced over at a winking light on the console. "Look, we've almost reached Earth. Let us Ghosts debrief the Vanguards, they'd more than understand your absence. You three should head back to your rooms and get some rest. You've all had a long, terrifying day."

-X-

Matt stood in the shower, his head pressed against the glass panes that surrounded him. He'd arrived home, and immediately set to work on washing himself vigorously, as though if he cleaned hard enough, he could wipe his memory clean of the terrifying images that bounced around his mind, opening doors into the dark recesses of his mind as the pictured the darkest scenarios that could have happened had he not managed to accidentally go into his Bladedancer's trance.

He turned off the water and grabbed a towel, shaking his head to clear his head of the aforementioned thoughts. He didn't want to think about his friends' broken bodies or light-drained Ghosts like the unnamed Guardian at the foot of the temple. All he wanted was to sleep and forget about all of this. But even then, he might not escape it if he became plagued with nightmares of the experience, and in a dream, one often couldn't tell the difference between reality and fiction. As he sat down on the bed, dry and dressed, he thought that perhaps sleep wasn't such a great idea.

Suddenly, he heard a knock on his door, and eagerly walked over to open it for the welcome distraction. He pulled it agape to see Ash standing in the shadow of the doorway. "Hey, can I come in? I just want to talk." "Yeah, no problem," he said, and turned back to sit back down on the bed, leaving the door open for her to enter. She was dressed in her black undersuit, and she walked over to sit down next to him on the bed.

"Look, when I first heard your plan to grapple down into the Hellmouth, I thought it was crazy. But I didn't mind, I figured that we needed some kind of stupid, insane plan for us to pull it off." She laughed slightly, though it was mirthless. "And then I slipped, and the only thing I could think of was, _'well great, this guy I've known for four days just got me killed'_. But then you did something surprising." She looked him straight in the eyes at this, and her expression was serious, though the smile playing around her mouth said that whatever it was, the only words that would leave her mouth would be positive ones. "You kept trying to help me, even when you saw that I was going to fall short of the edge. You never once gave up, and even as I pulled you down with me into that hellish pit, you didn't even consider letting me go." Finally the smile presented itself. "I could see it in your eyes, your determination and will to not let me go, even as I dangled there threatening to drag us both down into the dark below. It was the same expression you had on your face when you stopped us from getting slaughtered by that ambush team."

She gazed down for a moment, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to come up with words to express how she felt. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that, I think you're a good leader. I think you've got a great set of traits, one being that you put others lives before your own, and well I guess…" She leaned forward and wrapped him in an embrace. He hugged her back, unsure of how to respond. This hug was different than he relieved, 'in-the-moment' embrace that had left him gasping for air, this one had been thought out, was purposeful, was… gentle. "I just want to say thank you. Thank you for saving our lives, mine especially, and it's an honor to fight by your side."

She let him go slowly, and gave him another smile. Then, she stood up and exited his room, closing the door behind her. He watched her leave as his heart pounded in his chest, completely surprised at what had just happened. Why did he feel like following her, and telling her just as many compliments as she'd just graciously given him, for no apparent reason?

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and laid back on the bed. He was just tired, that was all, and he needed some sleep, nightmares be damned. He stared at his ceiling as his consciousness slowly faded out, and the last thought he had on his mind before sleep took him was that of Ash's smiling face, and her warm embrace.

* * *

Author's Note: I understand that I said I would make this chapter longer, and technically it was planned to be. This chapter and the next chapter were going to just be one, but I realized that the transition was much nicer at this point than it was to simply go straight from here into the next jarringly different paragraph. I hope that my constant updates make up for this average sized chapter.


	6. Remnants of the Past

Her arms crossed and supporting her as she leaned against the railing, Ash stood in a grassy patch of the tower's large courtyard, gazing out at the city from the balcony-like ledge.

It had been nearly two weeks since her terrifying journey into the Hellmouth, along with Aria and Matt. New reports continued to pop up of Hive sightings all around the Cosmodrome and the City walls, leading to a record high of Guardian activity on Earth. It seemed that they were now ready to make their motives known to the public, and wasted no energy in establishing themselves on humanity's home turf. In that time, Ash and Aria had practiced harnessing the light to enter their own 'super' modes. Both had managed to successfully produce a Fist of Havoc and a Nova Bomb, respectively. Matt had continued to work at focusing his energy, and had now achieved summoning a Golden Gun as well, which engulfed his hand cannon in flames as well as his body, turning him into a walking sun.

But Ash wasn't thinking about any of that.

Ever since the operation at the Hellmouth, she'd come out every other morning or so, and stand against the guardrail that prevented anyone from falling off the tower. Her brushes with death in the Hive's disturbing home had given her a new appreciation for life. Despite having been literally raised from the dead, she found that she'd been taking the new life as a Guardian that she'd been gifted for granted. Not anymore. Every night, she saw herself hanging from that swinging rope, Matt and Aria's worried faces staring at her. She relived every petrifying second of her fall once she'd cut the line, with only Matt's resolve and strength saving her from the depths of the pit.

Once they'd been cornered in the Temple of Crota, it was again Matt's determination that kept them alive. Though he may have entered his Bladedancer's trance by accident, there was no arguing that it had saved all three of their lives, and for that she was eternally grateful. Her new outlook on life had given her a better scope of understanding just how precious of a miracle it could be, how incredible of an experience that life was. And without Matt, she wouldn't be able to thank him at all for enabling her to exist one more moment in its beauty.

In fact, she thought about Matt quite a lot lately. After each of the last few missions they'd gone on, small ones around the Cosmodrome, she found herself picturing his determined face in her mind's eye, and trying to remember how soft his embrace was-

"You're doing it again." Whip's exasperated tone snapped her out of her imaginative stupor, and she turned to him as he hovered closer to her face.

"Doing what again? Standing out here?" Her electric blue eyes narrowed at the Ghost, daring him to say what he had been about to. He wasn't intimidated. "No, thinking about the moon, about _him_. Every time your thoughts turn to him, you get this weird, dopey smile on your face. It doesn't fit in with your metallic features well." Embarrassed, she forced herself to adopt a look of seriousness, hoping nobody else had seen her face the way Whip had.

"Look, it's been two weeks, and you haven't even talked to the guy about any of this. Why not bring up a discussion?" She shook her head, annoyed at the Ghost's practical solution to the problem. "It's not that, it's… look, it doesn't matter. Can we just drop it, at least for a while?" Whip snorted. "Fine, but don't think you've escaped forever. Sooner or later, you're gonna need to work through this."

Whip was right, eventually she would need to process what she was feeling. But for now, she just wanted to enjoy the sunrise lighting up the horizon and bringing light to the City…

"Ash?" Startled, she turned to see Aria and Matt a few feet away. "Well speak of the devil…" muttered Whip.

Ash backhanded the Ghost and sent him flying away a few feet. "Hey! How long have you guys been standing there?" She pitted hope against hope that they hadn't overheard her conversation with Whip. "Not long, we know not to bother you when you're out here," said Aria, and Ash prayed a silent _thank you_ to whoever was listening. "Okay, well what's up?"

"I don't know, 'young and eager' over here just dragged me out of my room too." Aria stared the Hunter down for the condescending term, and Matt held his hands up to show he meant no harm. She gave a small huff of annoyance. "Well as I told Matt, though it appears he wasn't listening, the Vanguards want to see us. Echo received a notification asking for us to meet with them, and I just wanted to let you know. You coming?"

"Yeah, I'm coming." Turning away from the dazzling sunrise, Ash joined her fireteam, and together they walked into the Hall of Guardians.

-X-

"A new lead? You're sure?" "Well of course we're sure, otherwise we wouldn't have called you in here, would we?"

Ash listened to Matt trade questions with the Vanguards, trying to get new information about the so-called lead. "Alright, I'm sorry. Could you please elaborate for us?"

The Warlock Vanguard gave him a withering stare for questioning their sources, but proceeded to explain; "We've had every available Ghost monitoring all known comm channels of the Fallen and Hive on Earth. At around 4:17 in the morning today, we picked up a signal transmission to the Hive in the Cosmodrome. Though we couldn't hear the conversation of course, we did manage to get a reading on the origin of the signal. It was transmitted from a distant location somewhere on Mercury." This just confused Ash even more. "Wait, Mercury? Why from there?"

"Well, we're not quite sure. But once I finish debriefing the info, you'll know why we're so on edge." Ikora's eyes indeed looked grave, as though every scrap of news they managed to pick up put them in a deeper and deeper hole. "You see, after that transmission ended, the same entity that contacted the Hive sent a transmission to a group of Fallen that we didn't even know existed, and it's quite by accident and some luck that we managed to receive any kind of signal from them." Zavala took over, giving Ikora a moment of respite.

"The Messenger," said Ash, and Zavala nodded. "That is our suspicion, though we could be wrong."

"Now, this is where things get complicated. You see, whomever sent those signals appears to be in league with both the Hive _and_ the Fallen. The thought of just those two armies working together already makes us uneasy, but the transmission's location was on Mercury, a world that we lost to the Vex." Zavala didn't say 'vex' so much as he spat the word, expressing his hatred. "The Vex are a race of robotic organisms that transform planets into machines, killing all life wherever they find it, and stamping out whatever light they come across. They share a single mind across a billion units. If the Traveler hadn't stopped them with its sacrifice, we wouldn't be here today, and Earth would be no more than a massive machine of theirs to use against other life."

The three Guardians sat in stunned silence. "If they're such a big threat, why haven't we heard of them yet?" Zavala turned to look at Aria, who had voiced the question. "Well, luckily we don't encounter them often. They mostly stay on Venus according to most reports. I don't think we've had any kind of encounter with the Vex in nearly a decade." Zavala now faced all three of the Guardians, making sure they understood well what he was about to say next. "Now, if the Vex are somehow in league with both the Fallen and the Hive, it backs us into a very dark corner indeed. We haven't seen a gathering of the Darkness's armies this large since the collapse. We need more info, and for that we're sending you three off to investigate the new Fallen group we found, and if you can, stop them. Information is our priority here as with the Hellmouth mission, but if an entire section of the Fallen army suddenly was thrown into disarray, it could buy us a few weeks' time, maybe even months."

Ash locked her gaze onto her mentor and asked, "How do you propose we do that, exactly?" The Titan Vanguard nodded in approval of his apprentice's question, appreciating her drive to achieve all possible goals. "Fallen Houses often separate into groups, as we've seen here. The Fallen group in particular that we found appears to belong to the House of Devils. Each group has a Prime-Servitor, a machine God of their creation that gives them their energy through replenishing their ether, their life-substance. Take out the Servitor, and the group will slowly die out without Ether to sustain themselves."

"And where is this Fallen group?" Matt asked the next question with seemingly an air of nonchalance, but when Zavala answered, his reaction was quite noticeable; "In the middle of a lost city in the European dead zone. The name of the city has long since been forgotten, but we know one of its identifying landmarks is a large structure, the top long since destroyed. It stands above the rest of the city, near a river with a bridge that connects the general area to the opposite banks of the water." Ash saw Matt stiffen immediately, his face giving away the powerful emotions he must have been feeling inside.

"Got something to tell us?" asked Cayde, curious as to why the young Hunter gave such a drastic reaction. Matt inhaled deeply, using his calming technique, and explained.

"That structure's name was Big Ben, and it used to be a clock tower. The name actually refers to the bell, not the clock, that hung inside. And the surrounding area is Winchester, London." Ash could see everyone else's shocked face at Matt's new information. "And how do you know this?" asked Ikora in awe.

Matt stared at Ash for the briefest of moments, pain apparent in his face, and then turned back to the Vanguards.

"Because I used to live there."

-X-

The Javelin flew towards their destination quickly, the minutes passing in silence. After Matt had dropped his bombshell of a reveal, they'd been sent off on their mission to retrieve any info they could on the Messenger from the new group of Fallen's databases, and possibly destroy their Servitor. Ash piloted the craft with ease, glancing over every so often to look at Matt in the co-pilot's seat, saying nothing but giving a blank stare forward as they continued on towards the ruins of his past home. She tried to think of words to say, to show him that he had support. Though her mind fumbled with different openings, Matt broke the silence first.

"You know, I wasn't born here in Europe. I actually grew up in the US, but once my dad died, my mother couldn't really stick around. I guess she needed a big change in her life, to take her mind off things or whatever. In any case, I moved to London when I was just beginning High School." Ash listened, trying to keep up with the story, but he kept saying too many foreign terms to her. The US? High School? What the hell were those? Ignoring her mind's ramblings, she listened to hear him say, "Life was good there, I'll admit. I made friends, I tried to keep the twins out of trouble." He gave a genuine sounding laugh as he remarked on past memories. "Oh man, the twins. They were fraternal of course, a sister and a brother of mine. They always liked to be mischievous, and play pranks on just about anyone they could. Authority didn't intimidate them in the slightest." His smile faded. "I don't even know what happened to them." He looked at Ash who was staring at him with real empathy on her face, and he faced forward again avoiding her gaze.

"Anyway, life continued on. I joined up with the British Armed Forces once I hit eighteen, and stuck with them for a few years. There was really nothing to do I thought, since the Traveler had pretty much unified most countries and created peace." He laughed. "I'd loved film-making and had thought I'd go to college for that, but apparently life had other plans for me. I'd thought it'd given me a second chance when I got discharged." He turned in his seat to look at both Ash and Aria as well, who had been listening to his story with interest. Both seemed surprised at the mention of him having been discharged. "See, there was this incident. A bunch of the guys got drunk at some gathering, and things got a little wild. I was there as well, but I didn't have anything to do with what happened next. They started teasing the girls with us a bit, and suddenly everything went to hell when a couple of them started crying 'rape'." He shook his head.

"I guess the alcohol clouded their judgement or something, but all I know is that in a split second, a bunch of the drunk guys are grabbing these girls, forcing them to- well, I won't go into it. Anyway, I freaked out a bit, and tried to stop what was going on. Got knocked out by one of the drunk guys who thought I was trying to take his prize or some shit. Woke up in an infirmary, and without waiting to hear my side of the story, I got kicked out of the Forces along with the rest of the assholes who'd gone and tried to assault the girls. People thought I'd gotten smacked from one of the girls defending themselves or something, and since none of them really knew us too well, they couldn't say for certain that I hadn't attacked them, and there went my defense."

"I moved back home for about a year, before agreeing to go trekking with one of my buddy's across Russia, maybe get a nice change of landscape, appreciate nature, that kind of stuff. On my way there, I got mugged by a couple of car-jackers, and next thing I know, I've got Seraph hovering over me telling me I'm a Guardian." He threw his hands up in a _done_ sort of fashion. "And that, ladies, is the story of my life."

Ash didn't know what to say. She didn't know whether to ask him about his unfair trial, about his siblings, or his friend. In the end, she settled to ask, "Did you enjoy your life more than this one?"

He pondered for a moment, and then replied, "Well I definitely appreciated the fact that most of humanity wasn't brutally brought to the edge of extinction yet, but would I go back? No. My life is now with you guys." Ash felt a small burst of elation at his answer, and it gave her enough courage to ask a different question; "Did you find love?"

His gaze snapped to her, his face questioning. She quickly tried to backpedal. "I mean, did you? At least you've got your memories, I still don't know who I am or what my past life had for me. I'm wondering what you had in yours at least." She gave a straight face, hoping he'd take the bait. He continued to look at her with that stare, and simply said, "Once." He turned away, and refused to elaborate, much to the chagrin of Ash.

"Alright Guardians, get ready. We're coming up on our destination." Whip's voice echoed throughout the interior of the ship, and Ash once again stared out the viewport with her hands at the controls, eager to focus on anything else but the previous conversation. "Where?" A small icon on the ship's navigational map popped up, and she guided the Javelin over to it.

As the Vanguards had said, there was a river that ran along the side of the ruined city. A bridge cut through it, connecting the city to the other side of the canal. "Winchester bridge," she hear Matt say, "I can't believe it's still intact." Indeed, only a few small chunks of the bridge and several support beams were missing. The rest of it was still very much usable. Turning her attention to the landing zone, Ash lowered the Javelin until it hovered around thirty feet above the ground. Seraph materialized, prepared to go with them on their journey. She released the controls, allowing Whip to repossess the ship. "Alright, transmitting in 3…2…good luck Guardians. Before Ash could tell him that they wouldn't need it, she felt her boots hitting solid ground, and watched as the Javelin flew off as to not attract attention.

"Alright, where to?" asked Aria. "It's down that street over there. We follow that to about a mile from here. I can detect fallen comm signals from even this distance." The three Guardians followed the path until they reached the eroded street. Suddenly, Matt veered off towards a heavily damaged building on the other side of the road.

"Where are you going?" Aria called out. He turned back to face them. "Look, there's just something I gotta see really quick." Without any more explanation, he faced forward again, and walked up a small set of stairs to the front door of the building. Aria turned to Ash, as did Seraph. She just shrugged, and followed Matt, the other two deciding to follow as well.

Matt was jiggling the door knob when she arrived. "This thing is locked, but it's quite old, and with a little force-" he stopped talking as he managed to break the centuries-old mechanism, and the door swung open. He immediately entered, and Ash trailed behind, wondering what he could possibly be doing. As if he could read her mind, he began to ascend a flight of stairs and said, "This place used to be an apartment complex. The room we're looking for is here on the second floor."

Indeed, once Matt reached the top of the stairs, he made a beeline for a room on the right of the hallway, it's identifying plaque long since faded. Matt wasted no time to break the doorknob this time, and instead kicked the door open. It swung into the room with a loud bang as some of the wood splintered as well. The three Guardians and Ghost went in.

The room was bare, nothing to show for the journey. "I guess whoever lived here last must have packed up, and left. Probably sometime around the collapse's start." Matt talked both to himself and to the other Guardians. He walked over to a section of the blank wall, and Ash began to worry. "Matt, are you alright?" He gave no answer, and instead attempted to grasp the smooth surface of the wall.

Suddenly, his fingers caught on something, and to Ash's surprise, he lifted away a small chunk of the wall, revealing a small open space inside. Reaching his hands in, he grabbed something and pulled it out. It was a small metal box, complete with a metal lock to seal off any chance of it being opened. "Dammit, don't have the key anymore. Oh well." Unsheathing his knife, he hit the arc of the lock, causing it to shatter and fall off. Once the lock had been removed, he opened the box.

Looking over his shoulder, Ash saw that the box was full of pictures, photographs containing various people and places. Matt chose one at random, and she could see that in it was-

"Is that you?" Matt nodded. Though it definitely looked like Matt, she could see that it was a younger incarnation of him, still likely in his teenage years. He had his arm around two other teenagers, one a boy and one a girl. Ash looked at the current Matt, staring at the pictures. "Those were my best friends," he elaborated. "The guy there is Lucas, an amazing and outgoing person. I was supposed to be meeting with him for the Russia trip." He pointed at the girl with a single finger. "That's Sara, my best friend for as long as I could remember." He didn't say anything else, and Ash took the opportunity to ask, "Was this your room?"

He nodded. "I lived here once I got discharged. I kept this chest in here full of my favorite and most precious pictures. My mom would have kept them in a scrap-book, but I always had this weird worry, like if I didn't keep them safe, that they'd be lost. Maybe by a house fire, or a storm, I don't know." He looked at Ash and gave a small chuckle, thought it was mirthless. "I guess my instincts were right, weren't they?"

Ash couldn't see his face through his helmet, but she had a feeling that his face was full of pain at this moment. He turned back to the photographs, and picked out another one. This one was just of him and Sara, out at some amusement park. It was years later, and the progression of age was apparent in their faces; Matt had almost matured into the young man he was now, and Sara no longer looked like a teenager; they each gave the camera held up by Matt's hand a wide smile, both ones of genuine enjoyment. Ash looked from the photo to Matt.

"Did you love her?" Matt hesitated a few moments. Then, he spoke, and Ash understood why Matt had shied away from the topic before.

"I did. She died a few months later after we took this photo. See, we began to date towards the end of High School, but she was diagnosed with some kind of genetic disease that had plagued her family's generations for quite a long time." His voice grew heavy, and he sounded like he was struggling to push past a lump in his throat. "The Traveler nearly cured all possible diseased, even cancer, but we tried everything. Nothing worked. The problem wasn't with some foreign bacteria or strain, it was a fault in her DNA, her own genetic coding. So she was stuck with a degenerative disease that slowly killed her over the next few months, until she was finally committed to a hospital. I remember staying up late with her, just keeping her company through the dark times."

Matt reached up and pulled off his helmet. Running down his face were tears, as he recalled the saddening memories. "I remember her dying in my arms during the night. She didn't say anything, just looked at me, smiled, and…she was gone." Matt lifted his gloved hand up, and wiped away the drops of water that fell from his eyes. "If there was any kind of reason to make me want to go back to my old life, it'd be to see her just one more time." He looked over at Ash, and he smiled. It was such an odd sight, to see the leader and friend she'd depended on for the last few weeks smiling in the memory of his dead friend.

Ash didn't know how to respond in the face of her silently crying friend. She felt helpless, words of encouragement were not her strong suit. Aria and Seraph just looked on passively, also unsure of how to proceed. But Matt once again started the conversation she couldn't.

"That doesn't mean I'd want to go back, though. We had our time, and my life back then is in the past. The only thing that matters is now, and the future. All I can hope, is that both of you continue to be apart of it." Matt held open his arms, and Ash finally took an opportunity she understood. Aria also walked over, and the three embraced for a few precious moments.

Once they let go, Matt placed his helmet back on. "Seraph, can you please store this somewhere?" She hovered over, and dematerialized the box in a flash of blue. Matt turned back to Ash and Aria. "Alright, now we've got some information to steal.

-X-

Ash walked down the ruined street along with her two fireteam members. They had nearly reached the location where the Vanguards had detected the radio signal. Seraph stopped moving for a moment, and said, "There."

An abandoned and run down church stood approximately twenty meters in front of them. Upon first glance, she couldn't see how this was some sort of Fallen HQ, but once she gave the area a more focused look around, she spied Fallen crates and storage containers littered around the building. They were in the right place alright. She unslung her JIGOKU from her back, and saw Matt and Aria follow her example, each pulling out their respective weapons. With his hand cannon at the ready, Matt gestured to Ash that she needed to open the door. Grinning, she ran towards the entrance of the church and slammed into the doors at full force.

The large doors immediately crumpled under the pressure, and Ash braced her feet to slow her momentum. She heard a growl, and looked up to see that she has startled a single Fallen Vandal. It yelled in its foreign tongue at her, until she'd charged forward and tackled the creature to the ground. Matt and Aria came running in as she kept the Vandal on the ground by aiming her scout rifle directly at the center of his head, quite the motivation to remain still. Though it complied, it still uttered the strange language of the Fallen, likely cursing them in its native speech.

"This is actually a pretty good opportunity," said Matt from behind her, and he stepped forward to the Vandal, Seraph at his side. "Seraph, can you translate?" "Well, yes, but why?" Ash kept her aim trained on the Vandal in case it tried to pull any sort of trick. "Well, I'd rather just see if we can find out what we need from this guy, rather than searching all day for a database that may or may not even be here. Look at the state of the place these guys are staying in. I'm pretty sure this isn't a large group, considering they're hiding out in a broken down, easily entered church instead of some kind of fortified base." Seraph didn't respond, perhaps admitting to herself internally that he was right.

"Ask him about the Fallen's invasion plan." Seraph emitted a synthetic sounding chain of growls and grunts. The Vandal tossed its head back and made a huffing sound, presumably laughing at them. "That's fine, I didn't expect any luck there anyway. Ask him about the Messenger." The Vandal showed no sign of recognition after Seraph's translation, only confusion. "Clarify it, call them 'the one who speaks with the darkness'." Finally, the Vandal seemed to tense up, and was silent. It looked like they'd hit the mark. "Ash, give him a little incentive to talk." Happy to oblige, she fired a warning shot off next to his head. Chips of brick flew in all directions, and again the Fallen swore at them. After it had finished yelling obscenities, however, it began to talk in a hurried fashion.

"It says; _'You seek the Diplomat. Your search will not be continued through my treachery. The Darkness's emissary will bring shadow and death upon your world, and my kind will pick clean the bones'."_ Again, the Vandal made its huffing noise, and Matt could see that they weren't going to get any more information out of it. But he wasn't going to brutally kill an unarmed prisoner. "Alright, tell him he has about thirty seconds to run before I place a bullet between his eyes." Seraph made the translation, but to their surprise the Vandal responded.

" ' _I won't be the one who needs to flee.'_ What is that supposed to mean?" Seraph asked, confused. Ash was about to ask the same thing when she heard an electrified humming from behind them, and she spun to face the new threat.

Descending from the rafters above was a massive Servitor, its body literally radiating either. "There's the Servitor!" she yelled, though Matt and Aria had already turned to meet it as well. It glared at them with its purple eye, and emitted a series of electronic hums and vibrations, probably something along the lines of, _"I will destroy you now, puny Guardians."_

The Vandal on the ground rose quickly to its feet, and jumped onto Matt's back. He pulled out his knife, and thrusted it into the Vandal's neck, but the damage was already done. Using the distraction to its advantage, the Servitor fired off a purple bolt of energy that exploded at the feet of the three Guardians. It flung them in different directions, and Ash felt herself fly backwards and smash through a stained glass window before tumbling onto the ground, glass shards falling all around her. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, and looked back into the church. The Servitor was firing at Aria who danced around the interior of the church, narrowly missing being hit by the beams which forced the wooden pews in their way to shatter and burst into splinters. Matt lay on the ground next to the dead Vandal, slightly stirring. Ash rose to her feet, and charged back into the fight.

Jumping in through the same window she'd been thrown out of, the Servitor made note of Ash's entrance, and began to focus on her. Aria brought her arm back, charging up an aura of void energy, and hurled the Nova Bomb at the machine-god. It missed by just a few feet, and though it definitely injured the rampaging sphere, it was not going to kill it. That left Ash as the last resort. She looked over to Matt's prone body, and swore that she wasn't about to let the psychotic floating ball hurt him. She felt the familiar electric currents begin to lance up around her arms and legs. She aimed straight for the Servitor, and ran full sprint towards it.

Leaping into the air, she managed to grab ahold of the rim of its eye, and hang there. The Servitor seemed shocked at the action, and this gave her enough time to find footholds for her legs. She let go of the rim with her arms, brought them back, and focused all of her available arc energy into her fists. There was a single moment where Titan and machine were silent in preparation for the final blow. Then, she drove her electrified hands into its eye with as much force as she could muster.

All of the waves of energy created by her Fist of Havoc was channeled directly into the center of the Servitor, and completely obliterated its core. The stained glass windows of the church shattered from the shockwaves, and the empty shell of the Servitor fell to the ground, Ash still holding onto the exterior. Drained of her energy, Ash stepped from the sphere to the ground, and steadied herself against the husk of the once living machine. She turned to see Aria checking up on Matt, and she walked over to see him start to move in earnest.

"Oh, it's dead." Matt stated the obvious fact with a small tone of surprise, as though he were noting an unexpected change in the weather. He looked up at Ash to see her extended hand waiting to help him up. He took it.

"Well, we got some new info, and managed to destroy a Prime-Servitor. I'd call that a productive day." Matt gestured towards the smoking metal sphere. "I suppose we just-" He stopped talking as all three Guardians heard the roars and howls of Fallen, much more than they'd estimated. And they sounded close by. They probably weren't going to be too happy with the news of their dead ether supplier, and Matt shouted, "Back to the ship! Back to the ship!"

They took off running towards the front of the church, in the direction of where they'd first arrived. Every so often throughout the mile-long sprint, Ash would turn and see the horde of Fallen chasing them, firing arc bolts from their wire rifles, barely missing the Guardians who ran from them. Seraph hailed the Javelin, giving out orders; "Operation is a success! We need extraction immediately, I repeat, immediately!"

Finally, they came back into the crumbling ruins of Winchester, and they saw the black outline of the Javelin rushing through the air to meet them at their position. But the Fallen were still behind them, and they weren't going to have enough time to wait for extraction. "Get to the bridge!" yelled Matt, and they began running towards the crumbling bridge that had so quickly become their place of refuge.

"Tell them to fly over the bridge, and get ready to transmat us as soon as we're in range!" shouted Matt, and Ash assumed he was talking to Seraph. The now had reached the base of the bridge, and as they began to cross it, she could see the Javelin speeding towards their location.

Upon reaching the middle of the bridge with Fallen not far behind, they waited for a few precious seconds. Each one felt like an eternity to Ash, trading every moment waiting for the Javelin for one less second of safety as the Fallen quickly approached them. The ship was just about to fly over the bridge when Matt yelled, "Jump off! Go!" Ash turned, and leapt from the ledge of the bridge along with Aria and Matt, escaping the clutches of the Fallen who pursued them. There was a moment of exhilarating free-fall, and then-

Her butt and back hit the seat of the pilot's chair, and Ash wasted no time in fastening her restraints. She checked to see that Matt and Aria were wearing theirs as well, and they both gave her the thumbs up. Ash took command of the controls, and accelerated them away from the ruins of Winchester, and into the sky. Once they'd put enough distance between them and the Fallen, Ash let go of the sticks, allowing Whip to have control again. She turned to look at her two heavily breathing fireteam members, and said, "You know, we've really got to stop ending all of our missions with near-death experiences."

Both Matt and Aria busted out laughing, and Ash grinned in her helmet. The seriousness of the situation was lost as they enjoyed themselves in the safety of the ship.

Matt stopped for a moment to ask, "Seraph could you please retrieve that box?" It materialized on Matt's lap, and he opened it again. Ash watched him dig through the photos, and pull out three; the one with him, Lucas, and Sara, the one of him and Sara alone, and another that had Matt with two shorter kids, a boy and a girl, who both appeared to be the his twin siblings. "These are the only ones I need," he said, and he put them inside a pouch of his belt. "I don't care about the rest." Without a word, Seraph dematerialized the box, and nobody asked where.

Ash liked to think that Matt wasn't trying to hold onto his past; he was trying to bring a small part of it with him, but continuing to make a new life for himself with her and Aria, as she herself had been forced to do without her memory. She smiled, and though the ride passed by in silence, it was the comfortable silence that fell upon friends who didn't need to say anything for their feelings to be understood.

-X-

"I don't think that this 'Diplomat' is a different person, I think it's the same one with a different title. Different cultures, different terminology for the one they speak to," finished Matt, giving his report to the Vanguards.

"I see," said Ikora, and both Cayde and Zavala nodded in agreement. "In addition to confirming that the Fallen are in league with the same being who communicates with the Hive, you've destroyed a Prime-Servitor. That kill alone has just bought us months of time to plan our next move. Thank you, Guardians." All three of the Vanguards bowed to the three newborn Guardians. _No_ , thought Ash, _that wasn't the right word_. No longer were they completely inexperienced Guardians, stumbling their way through discoveries. They were established, they were known. They'd fought for and supported each other the last few weeks, and Ash had begun to depend on Aria and Ash as though they were parts of her body, extensions of herself. No longer would they be coddled with the air of innocent children, but they were treated as equals. It felt right.

As the trio exited the Hall of Guardians, Matt turned to both Ash and Aria, asking, "Anyone up for a trip into the City? Maybe buy a drink as a reward to ourselves?" Aria, usually stubborn about her anti-alcohol consumption, now said, "Yeah, sure. I think I need some after this last mission." Matt turned to Ash and said, "What about you? You good to go?"

Ash thought of what Matt had told her about Sara, and his feelings of affection towards her. His past life, broken and shattered by the loss of someone he had so deeply cared about. She thought about her own status, and what he considered her to be. She knew that she hadn't reached the same level of friendship that he'd had with Sara, but she thought, staring into his expectant face, that she could sure start to try right now.

"Sure, a drink sounds great." Matt nodded, and together the three Guardians walked into the courtyard, eager to enjoy each other's company and await their next adventure together.


	7. A New Mission

Aria laughed at the joke Matt had just told. Of course he'd had to change it a bit to fit in with the times, as it had been mostly meant for a twenty-first century audience, but with the proper modifications, she'd understood it just fine. Ash too chuckled in enjoyment of the humor. They sat in the same booth at the bar they'd visited before, as they hadn't really bothered to find a different restaurant. This one had been great the first time, so why bother trying to fix what wasn't broken?

She raised the bottle of beer she had in her hand to her lips, and drank deeply from it. "Man, where has this stuff been all my life? I _really_ needed this." Matt and Ash laughed at Aria's admission of liking alcohol, and indeed she could feel the tension and stress she'd carried with her for the last few weeks slowly ebbing away with every sip.

Suddenly, Echo appeared in front of her. "Aria, you've got an urgent transmission coming in. Somewhere… oh my." She waved him away. "Can't it wait? We're all relaxing here."

In an instant, Seraph and Whip materialized as well. "We're getting that too," said Seraph, her body pulsing with blue light as it did when some kind of function was being used. "Whatever it is, it's not the Vanguards, and it's on a private frequency. I suggest you three answer it." The three Guardians looked around the restaurant, now serious as the situation had slowly escalated. "Alright, let's step outside here for a moment, guys." Nodding, the other two followed him out of their seats, and walked casually out of the restaurant. None watched them as they silently made their exit.

Once outside, they found a somewhat isolated alley near the side of the restaurant. They entered, and allowed their Ghosts to materialize. "Alright, let's hear it," said Matt.

The Ghosts each expanded into their spherical mode, allowing the radio signal to become stronger. It was a moment before they heard a feminine voice begin to speak;

"I've watched you for a while now, Guardians. I've seen what you've accomplished, from your journey into the hive, to your fight with the machine-god. But there are enemies out here much worse than them, enemies that you would not believe." It sounded genuine enough, and Aria wondered who could possibly be contacting them. It wasn't anyone they knew, that was for sure. "When you can, come find me. We have items of interest that we must discuss."

The Ghosts pulsed, trying to keep the signal strong, and finally they snapped back into place. Echo turned to look at Aria. "We've got some broken coordinates. Venus, northern hemisphere. Ishtar region." Both Whip and Seraph nodded to confirm what Echo had said. Matt's face had a pondering look to it. "Alright, well we're in no condition to leave right now." He was right, the thrip wore plainclothes in place of their armor, just regular clothes in the form of pants and a sweatshirt for Matt, her blue coat and comfortable shorts for Aria, and a light jacket and boots for Ash that she wore over her black undersuit. "Let's finish eating first, and then we can discuss what to do back at the tower."

"Alright, sounds like a plan." All in agreement, they exited the alleyway and walked back into the restaurant to finish their meal, and think about the strange voice and its message.

-X-

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Ash looked at Matt with an expectant face, his position as leader of their team having finally been established between the three of them. They sat on Matt's bed, discussing what to do about the stranger's request. Matt held his chin thoughtfully. "Well, so far she appears to be on our side, whoever it is. It could be a ruse, though." He looked at his companions. "I'd suggest that we keep this between us. No need to get the Vanguards or other Guardians involved in this if it does turn out to be a trap. That way, we only put ourselves at risk." Aria and Ash both nodded. It sounded like a good plan.

"I'll have Echo tell Amanda Holliday to have the Javelin ready to depart early tomorrow morning in the hangar," said Aria, and she stood up from the bed to go, and walked to the exit of the room.

"I should leave as well, get my gear set up and all that," said Ash. She too stood up, and began to walk towards the door.

"Oh alright. Night Aria," said Matt from the bed. She nodded and opened the door. He turned his gaze to Ash and said, "And you too Ash. Sleep well." Ash gave a small smile, and waved back at Matt before following Aria into the hallway.

Once the door was closed, Aria rounded on Ash. "What the hell was that?" The Exo looked at her in surprise at the outburst. "What was what?" Ash's face appeared to be confused, but Aria could tell she was masking what Aria had thought she'd been trying to hide. "That! You two keep dancing around the other like magnets pushing against each other, taking one step forward and then immediately taking two steps back!" The Exo's face lost all expression at Aria's accusation, and she muttered, "It's complicated. Good night." Without another word, the Titan entered her own room and closed the door.

Aria shook her head. Both Ash and Matt were older than her by a few years, but they kept acting like children, avoiding discussion of anything to do with the touchy subject of feelings and affection, despite the obvious existence of such feelings on the sides of both parties. Echo appeared in front of her.

"Do you think they'll ever do anything about it? I mean, it's pretty clear that they've shown interest in each other." Aria entered her room, once again shaking her head. "I sure hope so Echo, but the way they keep shutting their mouths about it makes me think they might not just because they're too shy to discuss it." She started to undress, preparing for a good night's rest. "And they still thought that nobody had noticed yet?"

Aria nodded. "Apparently so. Which is ridiculous because of how touchy they get when they're out on dangerous missions, and then as soon as we're back here where they have ample opportunity to progress with their feelings, they just ignore it!" She gave a big huff of annoyance, frustrated that her friends were keeping themselves from being happy. She laid down on her bed, and tried to turn her mind to other things, like the stranger's request. Enemies they wouldn't believe, she'd said. Had she been talking about the Vex, the machine species that Zavala had spoken of with such obvious contempt? If she had been, then the Vex were starting to sound like the pure embodiment of evil from everything she'd heard so far.

Echo flew through off, presumably to talk to Amanda Holliday. She closed her eyes, shutting out her thoughts and distracting imaginations that kept her awake, and slept in preparation for the next day.

-X-

The Javelin slowly moved toward the opening of the hangar. A traffic control agent waved green lights in their direction, showing them that the way was clear. Pushing forward on the accelerator, the ship began to pick up speed and rushed through the exit, arcing up into the sky and away into space.

Ash began to input navigational data into the ship's onboard stellar maps. The destination appeared as a spot on Venus, approximately in the area of where the Ghosts had said the signal had originated from. Once she'd selected it, she sat back in her seat as the Javelin began to enter warp-space. Aria watched Ash turn to face her and Matt. "Alright, trip looks like its going to take about twenty minutes. That gives us some time to talk."

Aria wanted to smack her across the Exo's jaw, hoping to knock some sense into her and force her to talk about the potential between her and Matt. But she kept her frustration under lock and key, and instead asked, "Do you think it could be the Diplomat, or the Messenger contacting us? Whatever you want to call them." Matt shook his head. "No, I don't think so. By now, I'm sure that whoever the Messenger is, they know that we're looking for them. Why give us a perfect opportunity to take them out? This has got to be related to something else." Aria thought that Matt's reasoning made sense to a degree, but it still didn't keep her from being uneasy about a potential ambush.

"Maybe whoever this person is, they'll give us some new info about the Messenger anyway. They could be on our side, after all." Ash looked at Aria and Matt, awaiting their responses. Aria judged hers carefully. "Well, considering that we directly asked the Fallen about them, it's not a huge leap to imagine that our quest has gone unheard, like Matt said. You could be right." Ash nodded in appreciation of Aria's reply, as did Matt to show that he agreed with her.

The rest of the journey passed with them discussing all the potential possibilities that could happen during their meeting with the mysterious stranger, until a light began to blink on the console, and Ash moved to look at the map. "We're here," she said, and tapped a few commands into the ship's drive, taking them out of warp-space. Venus appeared on the viewport, slightly smaller than Earth and greenish yellow. Ash took the controls, and the Javelin began it's descent into the atmosphere of the planet, now in enemy territory.

-X-

Aria waded through the thigh-deep water. The space underneath the Ishtar Academy's collapsed building was flooded with water, and the ground felt marshy. Occasionally, patches of dirt rose above the surface, with the glowing blue lights of the native spirit bloom plant sometimes growing from the soil. Matt and Aria walked ahead of her, each of them attempting to wade through the building to reach the courtyard of the entrance to the academy. Inside was the origin of the transmission, and they were looking forward to finally getting some answers for why they'd been dragged out here. What did the stranger want them to see? Why did they even care about the trio's mission? These questions danced around Aria's mind as she tried to make sense of it all.

Finally, the reached a crumbling incline, a section of the building that had fallen down. Climbing it, they found themselves in what appeared to be a deteriorating combination of dormitory and library. On the second floor levels to the left stood shelves of books, lined against the wall. On the right were rooms that presumably led deeper into the academy. In front of them and up on one of the levels of stairs that they began to ascend was a large statue of the Goddess Venus. The obvious mascot for the planet was not very subtle, thought Aria, and she giggled slightly at the thought of Venus representing Venus.

A white spire-like structure stood near the statue, composed of glowing lines and dots. "A conflux!" Aria heard Whip exclaim from in front of her. "Let me see if I can access it, it may give us some new data!" Ash turned to her Ghost and asked, "What the hell is a conflux?"

"Just because you don't remember a decade ago, doesn't mean everyone else doesn't. Confluxes were stations of the Vex, usually used for storing information or anchoring a teleportation point." Matt looked at Ash and nodded, and with a gesture of her hand, Whip flew over to analyze the conflux.

He scanned it as the three Guardians stood behind him a few feet, watching his progress. Suddenly, he stopped. "Well, that's weird. I'm not getting any data or records from the conflux at all. The only reason that could be is because-"

"It's a teleportation anchor," finished Aria, and clouds of dust and smoke began to appear all around them, lights flashing out from the shadows as robotic beings began to appear.

"No, no, no! Find some cover!" yelled Whip, and the trio scattered. Aria concentrated on propelling herself through the air, and hovered up to the second level balcony. Once there, she pulled herself over the railing, and ducked behind a table as red beams of light shot after her retreating form. The fire ceased, and began to focus on a different area, presumably at one of her friends. She took the opportunity to look out from cover, and get a thorough view of the Vex.

They were mostly one type of form, with an overlarge head that almost looked like a shield, and a white center in their abdomens. They each had a singular glowing red pupil, which gave them a malevolent appearance, forever scowling at their enemies with hatred in their eyes. Some of the other ones had horn-like protrusions, and a tail that whipped behind from a cable, giving them a devil-like cosmetic feel. She could hear Whip through the comm chatter saying, "The normal looking ones are called Goblins, and the ones with horns are Hobgoblins! Make sure to take out those Hobgoblins in a few shots, or they'll enter a stasis mode where you can't damage them!"

Aria pulled out her pulse rifle, and began firing at the enemies below. She managed to knock one's head off, but it continued to fire as it ran around without visual sensors, looking much like a headless chicken spraying blood everywhere as it ran around the yard. On a whim, she fired into the white center of its torso, and within two squeezes of the trigger, the Vex fell.

"Aim for their centers, it's a weak spot!" she yelled, hoping her team members could hear her. Apparently they could, and she watched as several rounds from both Matt and Ash's weapons found their targets, punching through the Vex's internal systems and crushing their wiring inside. Some of the Hobgoblins entered the stasis mode that Whip had talked about, but they were quickly dispatched once their protection lifted.

Even as some of the many enemies fell victim to the three Guardian's concentrated fire, more smoky lights began to flash, and two monstrous fifteen foot tall machines appeared in the center of the cloud. "Minotaurs!" Whip cried out, and Aria could tell from his tone of voice that these guys were bad news. As she watched, she saw them begin to make their way towards the back of the room, cornering Matt and Ash. Knowing she had to defend her friends, she hurled herself over the railing and landed on the ground below, standing her ground against the two gigantic robots.

"Get out of there Aria!" she heard Ash yell from behind her, but there was no turning back from her course of action now. She began to fire off rounds at their bodies, but the bullets simply clanged against the metal and ricocheted off. Trying for a different approach, she began to summon her light, and threw solidified shards of void energy. The void projectiles definitely dealt more damage, but it wasn't enough. She could feel her energy draining from her, and she didn't think she could last much longer as the Minotaurs continued to advance upon her position.

Suddenly, she felt her strength returning to her, and saw that instead of purple void projectiles, she was now hurling miniature fire-balls at the Minotaurs. She stopped launching them, and stared at her hands, now emitting a soft orange glow, as heat radiated from them. But she didn't have long to understand what that meant.

She heard the squeals and screeches of the metal monstrosities right above her. She looked upward just in time to see the closer one swing its leg back, and bring it forward to deliver a kick which caught her directly in the chest, with its foot hooking her between her legs. It shattered every bone in Aria's body, turning her organs and brains to mush. She had but only a second to see it coming before the flash of pain registered, and darkness closed in around her, taking her to oblivion.

…

Or was it?

She couldn't see anything, but she could definitely use her mind and thought processes as normal. The pain had disappeared as fast as it had come. In fact, she could not feel her body at all, and she began to panic. Just what the hell was happening? She needed to get back to her friends, back to defending them from the Vex-

A spark ignited, in the darkness, visible for a second before disappearing. What was that? It had appeared once she'd thought of returning to Matt and Aria-

Another spark, this one a little bit stronger than the first. Realizing what she needed to do, she began to concentrate on going back to the world of the living, and more sparks began to appear. Suddenly they ignited into a flame, a burning light that shined in the darkness. Then she realized, that there was no flame, she _was_ the flame, and she looked down to see her body once again, engulfed in warm, powerful fire. She stood exactly where she'd been killed, just a moment before. Turning, she saw the Minotaurs were nearly upon Matt and Ash, and her friends had stopped firing in their own defense to stare at Aria, their mouths agape. Wasting no time, Aria sprinted towards the towering machines, and began to shoot jets of fire out from her hands. The Minotaurs realized too late that they were burning, and as they turned to face Aria, their internal functions began to fail, with glass protectors melting from the temperature, and their wiring incinerating with every passing second. Within just a few seconds, the machines of death fell to the ground, their bodies swallowed up by flame, and their joints smoking.

The fire surrounding Aria disappeared, as did the feeling of immortality that she'd experienced. Her exhaustion and pain in her body returned to her, and she nearly collapsed from the shocking transition. But it felt good. Pain meant she wasn't dead, and that was one outcome that she would prefer to avoid at all costs.

Matt and Ash ran up to her and grabbed her shoulders, to make sure she was real. "How- how are you here? We saw you die!" Ash's voice sounded high pitched and choking, as though she were holding back tears. "We thought we'd lost you," said Matt, echoing Ash's sentiments. "Hell, I saw you take that punch, and your body flew across the room, snapping against the wall. I knew you hadn't survived, and yet, I still held out hope." He too sounded as though he were pushing past a lump in his throat. Aria began to explain.

"Sunsingers. I guess I managed to unlock my ability as a Sunsinger, as well as a Voidwalker. We have the power as Warlocks to revive ourselves, to raise ourselves from the dead, like our Ghosts can." She pointed at Whip. "It just takes a bit more out of us than it does for them," she said with a slight laugh. Matt and Ash laughed too, but not out of humor; they did it out of relief that their friend wasn't dead, and that they'd all managed to come through the Vex's attack.

"Indeed. You fought well, young one." All three Guardians ceased their small celebration, and turned to see their unannounced guest walk up the stairs. "You!" accused Matt. "You nearly got us killed!"

"That was never my intention," she said in reply, and she turned to face Aria. "I only wanted to expose you to the Vex. Luckily, you all are made of sterner stuff than even I'd thought, and you managed to overcome them, even through death. Well done." Recognition clicked in Aria's mind, and she knew who the stranger was.

"You're that Exo from the moon. The one that gave us the dead Ghost." The stranger's white metallic face nodded, confirming Aria's statement. "Back then, I had no idea that your paths would intersect with mine." She turned to the group at large. "Yet, here we are."

"Why did you give us that Ghost? You could have taken it, and nobody would be the wiser. Why help us?" The Exo stranger turned to Matt, and said, "You mistake me for being an ally of the Darkness. I meant no harm, and once someone who had use for it came along, I entrusted you with it, believing it would be in good hands. My instincts were proven right, apparently. I dug that Ghost out of the clutches of the Hive. I'd watched its Guardian die protecting it, and I made sure that the Ghost would not be left to rot in the pits of the Hellmouth." She finished and put her hands on her hips. "Now, we have more urgent matters to discuss."

Crossing their arms, each of the three Guardians waited for what the mysterious Hunter-dressed stranger had to say. "As I understand it Guardians, you three seek to defend the Traveler and the last remnants of humanity from the Darkness, even at the expense of your own lives. It's a brave notion, but without being properly informed of what's truly happening, your efforts are in vain." She gave her speech with a tone of educating an ignorant child. "The Traveler is not simply dormant, it is dying."

"The Darkness is cunning, and though the City itself may not have yet noticed, the Traveler exists only in a vegetative state, and not as a sentient being. At least, no longer. Toward the end of the Collapse, the Traveler's Spark, its heart which gives it life and is the origin of all its light, was stolen from it. Without it, the Traveler cannot produce light, only supply it to Guardians from its initial stored amount from when the Spark was stolen. It's been nearly two centuries since the Collapse's end, and the Traveler's light is nearly gone." All three Guardians listened in silence, as they absorbed this wealth of information. She continued in her exposition. "The Traveler's Spark was hidden away by the Vex, and now lies in the center of one of their vast machine prisons, located on Mercury. It is guarded by thousands of the vile abominations, and any attempt to retrieve the Spark would almost certainly mean death."

"In addition to that, there is another ritual taking place that carries out the second stage of the Darkness's scheme. Do you know of the Black Garden?" Aria had no idea what that was, but Whip piped up and said, "We've heard the legends. What about it?" The Exo walked away a few feet, and gazed at the smoking corpses of the Minotaurs. "One of the greatest threats to the Traveler lies there, where a ritual performed inside it drains the traveler of what little light it has left. Soon, not only will your Traveler not be able to produce any light, but it will have no light left at all, if the ritual in the Black Garden is allowed to continue." She turned back to face them again. "Then, the third stage of the Darkness's plan will fall into place."

"And that is?" Aria found herself asking. The Exo looked directly at her, and spoke her next words with an urgency in her tone; "Once the Traveler's light is drained, and it is vulnerable, then the armies of the Darkness will converge on your City, burning anything that stands in their way, until they reach the Traveler and destroy it from the inside, preventing it from ever spreading its light again." She knew that the Exo wasn't messing around, and that for whatever reason, she'd decided to trust their team of Guardians with this precious information.

Ash tried a question as well. "Do you know about the Messenger? Or the Diplomat?"

The Exo's gaze lingered over Ash a moment before saying, "I am indeed aware of a certain individual who speaks for the Darkness, giving out commands to its armies. To some, like the Hive, he is the Messenger. To the Cabal, he is known as an Ambassador. The Vex have no name, as they see him not as a separate entity, but as an extension of the Darkness itself. I'm sure that in due time, if you wait long enough, he will find you before you find him. One thing is certain, he must be eliminated." Aria made note of the 'he' pronoun, before Matt asked her for yet another confusing answer.

"Why don't you just tell this all to the Vanguards, Hunter? Why lead us this wild chase to find you?" Matt's question hung in the air for a moment, before the stranger replied; "One doesn't have to be forged in light to use the same abilities that the Traveler possesses. There are other sources, other…" She paused. "Other sides."

"You're not a Guardian? Why wear that Hunter armor then?" "While I may not be a Guardian, I still have the same abilities as yourself, Hunter. I simply came about my path in a different beginning. Perhaps I fought for a side too long before realizing I was on the wrong one." At this, she glanced over at Ash, who was listening closely.

Something flickered in the stranger's face when she looked at Ash. What was it that Aria saw? Was it recognition, familiarity?

In a flash, the flicker had passed, and the Exo's features returned to normal. "In any matter, your first priority should now be to find the Black Garden. Rip out its heart, and only then will your Traveler's light cease to drain. It will not replenish itself, however, until the Spark has been freed from its prison and returned to the Traveler. Hurry, lest you run out of time before the Darkness's armies take advantage of the City's small defenses, and invade." She began to walk away, before turning around and asking a question to Ash; "What is your name, Titan?"

"Me? My name is Ash," she replied, confused at the sudden interview. Aria now knew something was up, and asked, "Why? Do you know her?"

The stranger hesitated only a moment, before replying, "Do I know Ash? No, I don't know her." She placed more weight on Ash's name, as though she specifically spoke in reference to the person associated with that name, and that name alone.

Then she walked down the steps as blue lights danced around her retreating form, signaling a transmat. Within a moment, she was gone.

Aria turned to her friends. "Did you guys pick up on that? The 'Ash' emphasis?" Matt nodded. "Yeah, it's like she was speaking about Ash, but in an odd way, like she was two different people." He turned to the Titan next to him. "Do you think she knows you from before your memory loss?"

Ash pondered only a moment before saying, "It doesn't matter. Like she said, our goal should be to find, and destroy the Black Garden's heart. That's the immediate threat. Once everything is said and done, we can worry about my past." Aria thought it was brave of Ash to possibly forego a potential lead on her previous life in order to protect the Traveler and the City. It was an admirable sacrifice that the female Exo was paying.

Matt began to count their objectives; "Alright, one; we need to find and destroy the Black Garden. Two, we need to defend the Traveler and the City from the possible invasion of the Darkness. And if at all possible, we need to somehow get the Spark of the Traveler back." Whip turned to face him. "If we're going to find the Black Garden, we need to see the Awoken. They keep track of nearly everything going on in the inner planets. It's one of the ways they've managed to survive for so long by themselves, making sure that they know what their potential enemies are up to." The Hunter nodded, and turned to Aria.

"I know that the Reef-born Awoken are suspicious of all outsiders, including Earth-born Awoken. But they'll still be more likely to talk to you then someone not even of their race, like me or Ash. Could you perhaps act as a middle ground for us? It'd be a lot safer of a bet then us all going together." Though Aria knew that he was right, the thought of being alone among her cousins who wouldn't hesitate to kill her should she give them an opportunity, was frightening. But someone had to do it, and she was best suited to fulfill that duty. "Of course."

He turned to Ash, and said, "We'll have to hang back on the Javelin as she and Echo talk to them. We can come in and support her if things get hairy." Ash acknowledged the plan, and Matt looked at both of them, speaking as a group. "I'd say that we need to get this done as fast as possible. No time to head back to the tower and relax, our new Exo friend was pretty clear that this is all happening soon. The Messenger, or whoever he is, is about to try and wipe humanity from existence unless we stop him. We need to start ending this chain of events _now._ " The trio of friends was silent a moment, as they all began to accept their current course of action. Matt gave the team one last look around their faces.

"Alright, let's go have a chat with the Awoken."


	8. Eye of the Storm

Purple streaks of stardust and interstellar particles flew by the cockpit of the Javelin. There were even times when the ship passed right through a large cloud of them, resulting in a mass impact of thousand of tiny, sparkling particles to drag along the windows, opening a space for the ship as it took up volume in their usually untouched area of space.

Aria's heart was racing. She now faced one of the most dangerous tasks she'd been prevented with; having a conversation. It seemed easy enough to simply say it, but to think about the consequences of what would happen to her if she wasn't careful overwhelmed her mind with fear. Plus, the Awoken rarely showed any kind of empathy towards anyone outside of their unique civilization. The only thing she had going for her was the fact that she was also a member of the Awoken, but being Earth-born, she wasn't sure if that would be enough to calm the elitist mentality within the Queen and her people.

Matt turned in his co-pilot seat to face her. "Remember, that button Echo gave you is pinned on your collar. If you're in trouble, just casually reach up to your neck, and press it. We'll come in and get you out." She nodded. Though he'd told her this already a number of times, she appreciated him simply trying to ensure her safety against all odds. "You ready for this?" She wanted to say no, to say anything that would procrastinate the inevitable, but she knew that this needed to be done. She nodded again.

All she could do was go along with the plan. Both Matt and Ash had accomplished great things, had been given the Traveler's blessing of being given a second life, but she felt inadequate next to them, as though they outshone her every feat. This was one of the few things that only she could do, and she was determined to prove her worth to them.

Matt turned back to face the viewport just as they passed through a large purple cloud of dust, and upon emerging on the other side, a small intake of breath could be heard from all three of the Javelin's occupants.

Enormous colony ships, meant to transfer tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people, floated carelessly through the void, inactive and devoid of life. Some had been split in half, while others remained intact though the external damage only hinted at how much wreckage lay inside them. As though reading their mind, Seraph appeared and said, "Every ship that could escape, fled Earth during the Collapse. They made it this far, but I guess most of them died out here."

Aria stared out the windows and uttered, "It's a graveyard."

Ash tried to change the depressing subject, and asked, "How did the Awoken survive out here?"

"No one knows," said Seraph in reply. They continued on until Ash looked over at a beeping noise that began to emit from the console.

"What the- we've got two ships following us, around a hundred and fifty meters behind!"

As if on cue, a voice came through and started to speak over the comms; _"Intruder bearing 127, you have crossed into the realm of the awoken. State your business or be fired on by order of the Queen."_ Ash turned to Seraph, waiting for the Ghost to respond to the hail.

"Don't look at me!" said the young Ghost, "You better say something!"

Aria undid her harness, and walked the view steps over to the console of the ship, between Ash and Matt. "My name is Aria Sorentine. I am an Awoken Guardian from Earth." She added a subtle emphasis on 'Awoken'. "I've come to seek counsel from the inhabitants of the Reef."

Several moments of silence passed, and the trio of Guardians held their breath in apprehension. Finally, the voice came back stating, _"Conform to my trajectory. Any deviation will be taken as an act of aggression."_

Collectively, the three of them exhaled. Turning back to face Aria, Ash had a slight smile on her face as she said, "Looks like we're in the right place." Seraph only shook her body and asked, "Why is the right place always so terrifying?"

"Because our job mostly consists of eliminating scary, evil aliens so that they don't destroy life as we know it." Matt faced Seraph, challenging her to continue the unintentional debate. She just narrowed her eye, and dematerialized.

The Javelin continued to fly according the the requirements of the sentry's orders, as they descended deeper into the web of the Reef.

-X-

Aria walked down a long catwalk, Reef Paladins behind, and to either side of her. They escorted her down the long platform suspended in the air, stationed high above the ground of the vast cylindrical chamber that was the Queen's throne room. Orange lanterns lit the way, illuminating her face with a soft, flame-like glow. Finally, they reached the end of the bridge, which opened up into a circular staircase that rose up to a platform containing a large, velvet-cushioned throne. Standing next to it was an Awoken male, his long black hair hanging down the right side of his face. She assumed he was the Prince. He greeted them with an icy stare, as though their very presence was disgusting to him.

"So," he called, "these are the trespassers demanding an audience?"

Echo at her side looked up apologetically. "We didn't mean to trespass."

The Prince gave a small huff, and replied, "The Queen herself judges who may, or may not enter the realm." He began to descend the small set of stairs, continuing as he did so, "Me? I see no reason why she should be available for whatever washes up at the reef." He made it to the same level as Aria, and again gave her that cold, displeased glare. "But here we are."

Aria noticed that he wore Hunter clothing, but was obviously not a Hunter. She tried not to think about how he'd gotten his hands on that armor, and instead attempted to sound as sure of herself as she could before starting her side of the negotiations. Her mind thought back to her first meeting with the Vanguard's, and Ikora Rey's lesson in confidence asking, _Are those statement, or questions, young one?_

She drew her breath. "I've come to ask for help." Before she could even get her next sentence out, however, a pair of familiar looking hands grabbed the side of the throne and pulled the creature they were connected to into view.

"Fallen!" yelled Echo. Aria reacted instinctively, and turned to a Paladin beside her. She reached into the holster of the guard, and grabbed the sidearm inside. She began to bring it back again, intending to open fire on the Vandals which were -

A knife appeared at her throat. She froze, and looked to see the Prince holding it, his eyes practically begging her to give him a reason. She held completely still, refusing to give him one. Though whether her lack of movement was purposeful, or from being petrified in fear, she had no clue. Echo looked on at the spectacle, helpless.

"It is afraid of the Fallen." Suddenly, a beautiful Awoken woman with blonde hair walked up to the throne from behind it. She gave Aria a look over, as though analyzing her for weaknesses to exploit. "It does not understand that these ones are mine." As she sat down, the Fallen Vandals who had remained in defensive positions, now left their alert stances and appeared to be waiting for commands.

The Paladin walked over to Aria, and jerked the sidearm back from her. Once she was unarmed, the Prince removed his knife grudgingly, as though he were reluctant to allow the Guardian to live. He turned to the woman on the throne. "Apologies, your Grace." She looked up at the Queen who appeared to be bored, waiting for Aria to speak. She swallowed.

This is where it was going to be difficult.

-X-

Both Matt and Ash sat in their chairs silently. She stared up at the ceiling while his eyes darted around the viewport, looking for any sign of trouble to come. He didn't expect anything immediately, but that didn't mean that things couldn't change in at any moment. Vigilance was key here.

She leaned against the backrest, thinking about everything that had happened in recent times. All of these clues and missions, leading up to this; a meeting with the mysterious Awoken queen. So many motives and agendas in this war; she was having a hard time keeping track of them all.

Not to mention that she was also trying to deal with her own relate

He looked over at her as she continued to stare with a bored expression above. He smirked. "Not good at waiting around, are you?"

"Is it so obvious?" she replied dryly. A sigh escaped her mouth. "I'm just better at dealing with stuff up-front; I'm not a fan of politics and diplomacy. Looks like it's right up Aria's alley, though," she said looking out the viewport to the doors which Aria had disappeared through earlier.

Whip materialized out of the blue. "Oh, really? You prefer to deal with things up-front instead of dancing around them? Well, then you shouldn't have any problem with telling-"

"NOT ANOTHER WORD." Ash's arm was completely outstretched and pointing accusingly at her Ghost. She looked over at Matt. "Sorry, he's just a bit of a blabbermouth about sensitive topics." She practically hissed the last part, turning once more to stare at the Ghost who moved his segmented parts in a 'shrugging' sort of manner.

"Uh huh." Matt continued to look curiously at her, and she could tell that he was reading her and the situation; did he look a little downcast? Instantly, her mood shifted.

"Hey, is something wrong?"

"What? No, of course not." He sounded like even he didn't believe his own answer, and crossed her arms, waiting.

He gave in with a sigh. "It's nothing really; I just thought it was funny how similar you act to Sara sometimes."

She felt a tightness in her chest; was that a good thing? Bad thing? On the one hand, Sara had been a good person from what Matt had told her, and was definitely someone he enjoyed being around seeing as she was his best friend. That was good. But on the other hand, she didn't want to be compared to Sara again; she'd already done enough of that herself, contrasting the two of them when she was alone at night, able to work with her own private thoughts. She wasn't sure that she wanted to go all of her friendship with Matt being compared to Sara.

"How so?" she decided to ask. He shrugged.

"Just a lot of the same traits; you're very bad at patience and waiting around, like she was." He chuckled. "Once, we were at a carnival together as kids and she wanted some cotton candy. The line was so long, that she ended up just asking someone at the front for theirs once they'd bought it; even paid the person extra for it. Sometimes it got her into trouble, but it was definitely one of her more memorable aspects."

He let his eyes drift over to Ash smugly. "You also seem to get pretty embarrassed about 'sensitive' things too. God, for all the things that she was direct and to the point about, she could be the shyest person around when it came to discussing stuff like her feelings. I swear, she was more scared of that than a groundhog is of its own shadow."

Ash narrowed her eyes in confusion. He smacked his face with his palm. "You don't get that reference of course. It's just a thing with winter, where- ah never mind. The point is, I just saw some similarities between the two of you."

With that, he turned back to the viewport, and stopped talking. She knew it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't help but feel guilty over his silence. Later, she'd try to patch things up with him, make it right. For now, they had a mission to carry out.

-X-

"I am a Guardian, from Earth. We're looking for the location of the Black Garden." The Prince, who had been walking away, sharply turned back to face Aria.

"Why?"

"We seek to end a ritual of the Darkness, draining the Traveler of its light," she responded.

His eyes widened for a moment, before reverting back to a disappointed, but unsurprised look. "You want to turn it into a battleground? How unimaginative!"

"Do you know where it is?" She asked, pushing forward to find answers.

"Everyone knows where it is!" he snapped. "The hard part is getting in."

She tried again. "Can you help us?"

He began to get very close to her, and his voice was low as he spoke, menacing; "And why would we do that?" Spit flew from his mouth in obvious distaste.

Her hand was slowing inching towards the button on her collar before the Queen called out, "The Queen requests counsel with her brother."

With an expression that said, _this isn't over,_ he spun around to walk back towards his sister, the Queen. He knelt down beside her, and she whispered commands into his ear. Aria couldn't even hope to imagine what they were, aside from praying that they hadn't decided to execute her.

The Prince stood up muttering, "That's good." She feared whatever the Queen had said to make him happy, but her worried were cast aside as he turned and said, "Why not? We'll make you a key! How's that?" She was about to accept gratefully before he continued, "All we need is the head of a Vex Gate Lord."

"A Gate Lord?" asked Echo in shock. He turned to face her. "Uh, w- we-"

She interrupted him, "Why do you want a Vex head?" She was curious as to the possible motivation behind such an odd trophy.

"Oh, we don't," the Prince replied in a snide manner, "and I doubt we'll get one either. But it's your only hope of getting into the Black Garden."

With determination in her voice, she said loudly, "I will return." Hopefully the Queen had heard her, and knew that the Guardian meant it.

The Prince either didn't notice, or chose to ignore it, and quipped, "Or die on Venus. Either way." He scowled at her, signaling that it was time for her to go. With an outward appearance of cool composure, but shaking like a leaf within, she turned and began to head back towards the docking bay where Ash and Matt were waiting.

-X-

"Hope you guys weren't too bored in here." Ash's eyes shot open. She looked over to the entrance of the ship where Aria had just entered, and then sat up in her chair.

"Hope you actually got some useful intel out of this trip, I can't stand just sitting around doing nothing," replied Ash.

"They said that we need the head of a Vex Gate Lord." At this, the Awoken teen shrugged. "As for why, I have no idea."

"A Vex Gate Lord?" asked Whip in surprise. "Well, that's going to be quite the enemy to take out." Matt turned to Seraph. "Can you find us a Gate Lord?" She nodded. "Next stop, Venus!" A navigational map pinged on the console, and Ash took hold of the controls, lifting off from the floor of the docking bay, and slowly backing out into the void of space.

Matt looked over at the space between their seats. He hadn't been telling Ash the whole truth earlier; the similarities between her and Sara were definitely there, even some that he'd decided not to share with her. But in reality, he'd been downcast because he felt conflicted.

It was pretty obvious that Ash had at least some sort of feelings for him; whether they were truly romantic or just affectionate in general was yet to be seen. But the fact remained that she _did_ have them; so why did she work so hard to not let him know?

Every opportunity she had to discuss her feelings, she pushed it away- pushed _him_ away. Did that mean that she didn't want a relationship?

Should he even seek one? It had only been a month or so into his new life. Obviously, she was his best friend right now, but that didn't discredit the detail that they hadn't known each other very long. Would it be right of him to invite a romantic interest this early into their friendship? Probably not.

And what of the differences between them? How were these issues not first and foremost in his mind? She was an Exo, he was a human. From what he'd been told, Exos now had souls just like humans; just not the bodies. I mean, the bodies definitely looked humanoid in appearance- but they were still metal and circuit, not flesh and blood. There would be problems to work through, so many confusions to dissipate…

 _Look_ , he told himself, _she seems to want to keep her feelings under wraps. If she doesn't want to come out about them, then that should tell you something. Let it go._

With that in mind, he continued to remain silent for the remainder of the trip.

-X-

The trio walked through the swampy marshes of Venus. Several times, they passed by blocky looking structures, which the Ghosts had said were ruins of the Vex older than humanity itself. Bits of the hills and mountains were also transformed from once green and living grass to machine, lights pulsing along them. As humanity had left Venus to the machine race, the Vex's terraforming went unhindered, and it wasn't bad motivation to stop them so that the garden planet could possibly be returned to its luscious state.

They'd gone to ground a while back, and followed a trail of Vex signatures that Seraph had picked up. Apparently, the Gate Lord was kept in stasis until woken by more Vex or an intruder. They guarded the time gates that the Vex used to move through, in, and out of time. And they were about to challenge one head on. Matt couldn't see how this was going to help them reach the Black Garden, but he wasn't going to say no and risk losing the Traveler simply because it didn't make sense to him.

Eventually, they reached a large open area. Vex swarmed the hillsides and a massive circular ring stood vertically at the top of a long stone path of stairs. Blocks of stone stood everywhere, as though they grew out of the ground. It looked like some abstract artist had taken tile art to a whole new level.

"Where are we?" asked Matt.

"The 'Endless Steppes'. According to records I've accessed from the City, the last sighting of a Gate Lord was here at this particular time gate. It's up to you to lure it out." Seraph said 'up to you' as though she were absolving herself of all responsibility of anything that may happen next. He didn't like that, or what it implied about the Gate Lord's durability.

"Are we ready?" The question came from Ash who was looking at him and Aria expectantly.

Both of them nodded. "Let's do this," muttered Matt.

They began to engage the Vex guarding the time gate. Though the numbers were staggeringly against them, the Guardians had the element of surprise, and within ten minutes, they were walking over the broken and destroyed bodies of various Goblins and Hobgoblins. There even lay a Minotaur or two nearby, a testament to their fighting prowess.

Another ring was stationed in front of the enormous one, but instead of being placed upright, this one was flat on the ground. "That's how you're going to summon it. I hope you're ready." Seraph sure didn't sound ready, but what could Matt do? This was the only course of action they could take.

Stepping inside the ring, he watched as white cubic lights began to rise from the edges of the ring. They formed a white wall of light around three feet high, each square constantly fading in and out. Once the wall had reached its maximum height and was completed, the larger ring standing upright began to activate, and a swirling mass of light and particles began to emit from it. Matt began to step back from the ring, whatever he'd set in motion was already done, and there was no reason for him to be standing so close when-

Then the Gate Lord appeared. Three stories tall, it looked like a Minotaur that had taken steroids far too long. It materialized through the time gate as segments and separated limbs, but once through, they all connected and formed the walking death machine. It stood upright, and turned its large red eye to face Matt, its summoner. A series of squeals emitted from it, and he knew what it was thinking.

"Move!" he yelled, and he dodged out of the way as a large purple projectile shot from the Gate Lord's arm and splashed around where Matt had been standing just a moment before. Ash and Aria had taken defensive positions behind a row of blocks, and were firing in bursts at the Gate Lord's white center of its torso. It turned its attention to the puny threats that dared to shoot at it, at fired off a few cannon rounds. The two women were forced to evacuate cover immediately as the large explosions practically melted the blocks, as it would have their bodies had they stayed.

Matt unslung his sniper, and aimed for the white center. He got a few rounds off before it noticed him, and though it had probably done more damage than his hand cannon, it still hadn't made a dent in the thing. He rolled away to avoid splash damage from a nearby explosion, and called out to his team mates; "We need a lot more power going into this thing than our weapons! We need to super up!"

He began to sprint towards a spot around fifty feet in front of the Gate Lord, and hoped they'd heard him. Evidently they had, because they too ran to meet him at the same location. They turned to face the Gate Lord, and began to summon what light they had. Matt's hands and body began to radiate heat, and Aria's hands began to emit a purple aura of Void energy. They continued to charge, but it was too late.

The Gate Lord had seen them run into an easily attackable position, and fired no less than five rounds directly at them. Splashing on the ground and around them, they caused so much damage to the area that the stone ground caught fire from the energy of the blasts, and smoke billowed into the air. It was sure that the insignificant life forms had been neutralized. But it hadn't waited until the smoke cleared.

The smog began to part in the wind, and standing in the center of the cloud were the three Guardians, protected by a purple bubble-like shield. The Gate Lord's weaponry hadn't even scratched the surface. It stood shocked for a moment, giving Matt enough time to yell, "NOW!" and jump into the air with his now golden hand cannon. He fired three shots of pure solar energy into the Gate Lord's center. The damage level was severe, and it knelt down, attempting to recover. It never had the chance to, as Aria floated up and hurled her Nova Bomb directly into the mass of the Gate Lord, completely obliterating its body structure. Its body exploded into several pieces, including its head.

The cranium of the Gate Lord flew up in the air, and landed, smoking, at their feet. Damaged, but mostly intact. Seraph flew over, and dematerialized it, storing it for later. "Well done, you three. You managed to kill a Gate Lord, one of the most infamous foes humanity has ever had to face in this war."

Matt and Aria panted, trying to force air into their lungs from their quick use of their supers. Ash had already collapsed on the ground. Though her Ward of Dawn was impenetrable, all the damage inflicted upon it sapped her of her strength the longer she'd kept it up, and five shots from the Gate Lord's cannon had nearly caused her to pass out. She felt a shadow block out the light above her, and she reached her hand up to grab Matt's extended one, helping her to her feet. She tripped as she stood up, and fell into Matt's arms as he caught her. They locked gazes for an instant, and then let go quite suddenly. Matt coughed awkwardly as she looked away.

"I do hate to interrupt, but I'm afraid you can't leave quite yet."

The three Guardians turned to face the unknown voice. Standing roughly ten meters away from them, was a newcomer. They wore short Warlock robes, black with red highlights. They pointed their hand at Seraph, implying they wanted the head. "I'm going to have to take that. Can't have you three getting any closer to the Black Garden."

The voice was definitely male, though somewhat synthetic sounding. Matt narrowed his eyes, wondering. He faced the mysterious individual. "And why is that, Guardian?"

"Oh, well for starters, I'm not a Guardian. At least, not the kind of Guardian you are." The stranger took a few menacing steps towards them. "And second, because my master would become quite displeased if you three did manage to reach it."

Matt started reaching for his hand cannon. "You're the Messenger."

The stranger shrugged. "If you're talking to the Hive, then yes. Like I'm sure you've seen already, each army has their own name for me. I'm a Diplomat to the Fallen, an Ambassador to the Cabal." They began to pull a knife from a sheath on the left side of their waist, and a gun from a holster on the other side. It was a hand cannon, but it didn't look like any kind of hand cannon that Matt had ever seen. "To you? I could be your worst nightmare." Wicked edges and blades lined the exterior of the gun, as though it would hurt just to even pick it up. It could have been used as a secondary knife instead of a gun.

"Oh, you like this?" asked the Messenger, gesturing to the hand cannon. "It's got quite the bloody history behind it… going from hand to hand, each owner having killed the last. I am no exception. As the saying goes, 'birds of a feather, flock together', and this gun is just as dark as I am. I like to think of it as a little 'Thorn' in the side of my enemies." He gave a short laugh. "And I'm sure that you'll all know how it feels in just a second. It was a pleasure while the adventure lasted, but unfortunately all good things must come to-"

Matt flipped his hand cannon out of its holster as the Messenger spoke, and immediately fired off several shots. The Messenger reacted with the agility of a cat, as though he'd been expecting him to shoot the whole time. He leaned out of the way, and began to shoot several rounds of the 'Thorn' in Matt's direction. He just barely evaded them, and watched as one of the rounds hit a chunk of the blocks behind them. Imbedded in the stone was a nearly four inch, pointed blade. It looked like the 'Thorn' literally shot thorns. He probably should have expected that.

As soon as Matt had fired, Aria and Ash had unleashed their own weaponry against the corrupted Warlock. The Messenger began to move his hands in front of him, faster than the eye could follow. Short trails of purple followed them, and he could see that the Messenger was literally deflecting bullets and casting them away with void energy. "How come you can't do that, Aria?" muttered Matt. She gave no answer, as she rolled to avoid a burst of purple that had threatened to explode in her face. Matt continued to fire at the Messenger, not hoping to hit him, but at least attempting to stall him from firing off that devastating Thorn again.

"Ash, keep firing! Wait until I get close!" "What?!" she called, but Matt was already moving. True to his command, she kept suppressing fire up long enough for Matt to reach the Messenger. Unfortunately, his actions hadn't gone unnoticed, and right as Ash stopped firing, the Warlock brought forward the knife that he'd equipped earlier.

Matt raised his left forearm to block the descending arm. Using his right fist, he threw a punch into the Messenger's stomach, hoping to stagger him. The Messenger, his right hand still trapped above Matt's forearm, now dropped the knife into his left hand waiting below, and swiped. The knife dragged across Matt's chest plate, and Matt used his right hand to grab the wrist of the Messenger's now knife wielding one. His attention distracted, Matt wasn't able to brace in time for the Messenger to swing his now unguarded arm directly into Matt's helmet. The Hunter flew back a few feet, but still managed to stay on his feet.

"Impressive." The Messenger crossed his arms, and stood at ease. "Your skills are clearly not exaggerated. I almost hate to kill you, but orders are orders."

"In that case, you won't mind if we return the favor." Ash stood behind the Messenger, having looped around as he'd focused on Matt, while Aria kept her aim trained on him at all times. Her shotgun was aimed directly at the back of his head, and he knew it.

He sighed. "Oh, come now. Surely even you know that this isn't an even fight."

Quick as a flash, he ducked and brought his arm behind him, knocking the barrel of Ash's gun aside. He ripped it out of her hands by the barrel, and then swung the gun with mustered force right back into her helmet. The impact was so great that it shattered the visor, and as she flew backwards, bits and pieces of plexiglass landing all around her form.

Matt wanted to rush to Ash's side, but he had to focus on the task at hand. Aria opened fire as soon as she'd registered his movement, but his action had lasted less than a second before he'd begun to deflect the bullets as normal. Matt saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and had to focus to keep his gaze on the Messenger rather than checking on Ash, as he knew what was about to happen.

The Messenger looked bored deflecting bullets, until he heard a voice to his side yell, "Hey asshole!" Reacting out of instinct, he turned to face the noise, and Ash's arc powered fist met the front of his helmet, creating a miniature shockwave. The Messenger's punch may have hit Ash like a truck and crushed her visor, but her force slammed into him like a train, and completely destroyed the helmet. It flew off in pieces, and the Warlock tumbled backwards from the impact.

Now on his stomach, the Messenger looked up. It was a male Exo, but was surprising was his face; just like Ash and the Stranger, his paint scheme was white with silver accents. He looked up to see Ash standing a few feet from him, and his mouth dropped. Her visor was completely destroyed, and it allowed him to see her face properly.

"No… it can't be…?" he began. He didn't have a chance to get any other words out before a sniper round fired from Matt's rifle caught him in the torso and exited out his back, as the Messenger's guard had been temporarily lowered. The Messenger clutched at his chest, and cast a small void shield to his side, to prevent any other surprise attacks. Glaring at Matt from behind the shield, he spoke; "Though you may escape today, do not think that you are lucky enough to evade me forever. We'll meet again."

He faced Ash, and repeated, "We'll meet again," though this time with a somewhat softer tone. As soon as he'd finished, black and green light surrounded him, and he vanished in a flash of sickening colored light.

Matt walked over to Ash, Aria following behind. "You alright?" he asked tentatively. She turned to face him, surprise and shock in her eyes.

"He… he recognized me, just like the Exo stranger did. And his face, and her face, they're both like mine!" She gave Matt an expression of helplessness and confusion. "How do they know me?! Why would I know either of them from before? I'm so lost!" Matt thought about what she needed, and reached out and pulled her into a hug.

She fell silent for a second, unsure of how to react, but then reciprocated and accepted by hugging him back. "We'll get this sorted out, I promise you. Before this is all over, we'll solve this mystery," he assured her.

He turned to Aria as Ash rested her head against his chest. "Hey, nice job with the Gate Lord. Without your Nova Bomb, I don't know how we could have gotten him down in time." He gave her a nod, and Aria felt her chest swell with pride, having finally done something to prove her worth. Regardless of how valuable it had actually been, his praise warmed her heart, and she was satisfied.

He turned back to Ash. "And your Ward of Dawn saved us. Not to mention that sweet knockout punch of yours. You practically knocked his head off!" Ash smiled a little, and he felt good for getting at least some kind of positive reaction. She definitely needed a pick-me-up right now.

"Alright, we've got the Gate Lord's head. Let's head back to the Awoken, and give them-"

"Oh, I don't think so!" Seraph interrupted Matt with an authoritative tone. She flew closer towards him, and turned to his hand still holding Ash close to him. "We're not going anywhere until you three have gone back to the Tower. You all need to rest up, to relax for a bit."

"Seraph, you do realize that humanity's existence is at stake?" asked Matt, his helmet covering up his raised eyebrow and quizzical look he was giving her from behind it.

"Yes, I'm fully aware, but one day isn't going to make it die any faster." Without another word, she looked up at the sound of the approaching Javelin, and dematerialized, presumably aboard. A moment later, the other three were teleported into their seats, and Whip began to fly them back towards Earth.

-X-

After a lengthy debrief to the Vanguards for their extended absence, the trio had walked to their respective rooms. But Matt couldn't fall asleep. Tossing and turning, he tried to find some way to get comfortable and pass out, but his mind wouldn't stop processing information. Why did the Awoken need the Gate Lord head? Who was this Messenger Exo that had recognized Ash? For that matter, how did he even know her, or the other Exo female, the one dressed like a Hunter? Questions swam through his mind, and he just couldn't stop thinking of all the possibilities.

Suddenly, his door opened, though quietly. He turned to face the intruder, and saw none other than Ash walking towards him. She wore her black jumpsuit that she usually had on in place of clothes, and rubbed her hands together in a nervous kind of fashion.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Matt, wondering why she too was up so late. "Can't sleep?"

She shook her head. "I have too many questions in my head for me to deactivate. I just needed to get my mind off things for awhile, I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all," and he sat up in bed. "I can't sleep either." He spoke in whispered tones, as to not wake Seraph. "All I can think about are possible connections between the Messenger and you. You two are so drastically different, I have no idea what you two could possibly have in common."

She just stared sadly at the bed, her past so close and yet so far to being discovered. He looked at her, and had an idea. "Hey, do you want to get out for a bit?" She looked at him curiously.

"Out? Out where?"

"Just to walk around a bit, maybe see some of the City. You up for it?" There was a moment's pause before she smiled and nodded.

"Alright, go change, I'm going to grab some clothes."

-X-

Ash laughed playfully, and shoved Matt's shoulder away. They walked down a street of the City, him telling her stories of the twins. He now wore his blue sweatshirt and jeans, and she wore her jacket and boots. They'd been walking for nearly an hour now, and had yet to become bored of their conversation.

"So I hear this weird noise, and I head into the laundry room to find bubbles and soap coming out of every crack in the washing machine. The little twerps had overloaded the thing with cleaner, and the volume of the washer was too small for it to handle, so it just started seeping out the sides and sending bubbles into the air!" He laughed at the memory. "I think I covered for them on that one because they hadn't actually been trying to prank anyone; they'd just been trying to help out, and got the amount of soap wrong."

"Your siblings sound like they were a lot of fun," reflected Ash.

"Yeah, they could be. They could also be annoying little shit-stains, but the positives almost always outweighed the negatives with them." Matt stopped talking for a moment to just enjoy the silence. He looked in his peripheral vision to see Ash smiling and walking next to him.

He thought about their friendship again, and the gnawing feeling for something more inside of him that he'd felt earlier. Inwardly, he shook his head; that wasn't what right now was about. She just needed the comfort of a friend; he could afford to be patient. For now, Ash was his best friend, and that was enough for him. They walked down the street comfortable in each other's company as unbeknownst to them, a Hunter-dressed stranger stood on a rooftop observing them and smiled as she watched the two enjoy their night together.


	9. A Black Mirror

The Queen looked up in surprise at the sound of approaching footsteps. Aria continued to walk confidently towards the throne. Evidently the Prince at her side couldn't see the look of triumph on her face, and assumed that she'd failed.

"There's no shame in running away, Guardian. Aside from the cowardice and failure of it, it's an excellent strategy!" He smirked.

She locked gazes with him and said seriously, "I didn't run." The expression of alarm that crossed his face and wiped away his grin was enough to make Aria cheer. Luckily, she kept her composure.

"Was no Gate Lord slain, brother?" inquired the Queen, looking questioningly at her brother.

While he appeared to be flabbergasted and gave no answer, Echo provided one for him; "Oh, we slayed a Gate Lord!"

Aria nodded at him, and asked, "Echo, would you do the honors?"

Immediately, the Ghost materialized the meter-and-a-half long vex head in the air, and it dropped down several feet to land on the metal catwalk with a resounding thud that echoed off the chamber's walls. Both the Queen and the Prince seemed dumbstruck. Aria followed up the conversation by saying, "I need to find the Black Garden."

The Prince's vacant look was replaced with his usual smug one again. "Ha! They don't even know where it is."

The Queen, who now appeared thoughtful, did something Aria didn't expect; "Let us tell them. Search the Gate Lord for that which gains them entrance."

The Prince rounded on her quickly, enough to make the Fallen guards startle and ready their spears. "Why?! If you wish them certain death, just kill them here!" he cried, spittle flying from his mouth.

The Queen took no notice and calmly said, "Often when we guess at other's motives, we reveal only our own."

The Prince now lowered himself onto one knee, and began to reiterate his motives; "My motive is simply loyalty; to a people, a Queen, and a sister." She turned her head to look at him, a bored and uncaring expression on her face.

"Then please! Take what is required."

The Prince stood up and turned, and Aria could see that several emotions and thoughts were battling against each other in his mind, as various expressions conflicted with each other in his facial features. He walked down the few steps to the catwalk, and drew a knife. He paused a moment, and then proceeded to follow his sister's orders, kneeling next to the head and slicing into its brains. A look of consternation crossed his face as he searched around for what he needed to find.

Finally, he drew out his arm holding the eye of the Gate Lord. As Aria watched, the red glow from the eye remained on, but flickered slightly. The Prince scowled. "Mars. Eighty-four north, thirty-two east. Meridian Bay." He tossed the eye towards Aria, most likely expecting her to be caught unaware, but she reacted fast and managed to grasp it before it flew past her. She noted that if she hadn't, that it would have fallen off the catwalk and down into the abyss below. "The charge on the eye is still active, but it won't last long. Don't expect us to help you again if it dies while you're trying to get in."

The Queen stood up from her throne, and faced Aria. "I have shown you benevolence, Guardian. Should the Awoken ever need an ally, I will call on you… and expect you to answer."

The Prince replaced his blade in it sheath, and translated for her; "She's saying you owe us, Guardian."

Aria nodded and said, "I understand." She bowed towards the Queen. "Your Grace." Without another word, she began to walk out of the chamber. When she reached the midway point however, she turned back and called to the Prince who was starting to walk away; "I was attacked, you know. By a minion of the Darkness known as the Messenger."

The Queen appeared surprised, but the Prince only showed a mock form of the expression. "Really? Isn't that interesting."

Aria glared at him, and tried again. "I only mean to warn I managed to overcome him, as I will overcome and eliminate any ally of the Darkness that seeks to challenge me." The Prince glared right back, and the Queen looked suspiciously at her brother. Before an argument could start, Aria walked towards the hangar, and exited the throne room.

-X-

"I don't think we'll get a second chance at this." Whip looked nervously around the Javelin. "If we pull this off, we can still save the Traveler."

Seraph now flew a bit closer, hovering in Matt and Ash's general vicinity to add to the conversation. "And if not, the Darkness will seize our worlds. All of humanity is at risk if the Black Garden sucks out the Traveler's light." She turned to face Matt who had looked up at her in alarm. "But, no pressure!"

"Uh huh. Remind me to never let you give us a pep talk again." He looked over at Ash. "How are we doing on time?"

She glanced down at the destination tracker on the console. "We're less than a minute out, approaching the coordinates now."

They flew over a rocky canyon wall, and suddenly they saw a vast martian landscape come into view. Dunes of red dust stretched for miles and miles. A few hundred yards before them stood a massive time gate, inactive and partially embedded in the sand. Echo popped up on Aria's shoulder. "That's the gate. We should hurry, or the Gate Lord's eye might deactivate."

She looked at him. "What's the rush? It doesn't look like it's going to die anytime soon."

Echo turned to face her. "Maybe not now, but I assume you want to get back to our normal realm after defeating the Black Garden's heart?" She pondered this a moment before understanding what he meant. "From what I've heard about the Black Garden, it's a separate dimension, locked out of time and space by the Vex to keep it safe. We had no idea it was siphoning off the Traveler's light of course, we just thought it was a fortress or safe heaven for them."

"So," began Ash, the truth dawning on her, "If the eye dies while we're in there, we'll be stuck forever?" The Ghost began to shake its body. "Not exactly. See, the heart is likely holding the Black Garden together, keeping all of its reality in place outside the time stream. Once it dies, I assume that the Garden will begin to collapse. If you're stuck inside when that happens, then you'll collapse along with it and be erased from existence when it completely dissolves in time."

All three Guardians stared at Echo. He quickly said, "Or, you know, I could be totally wrong."

Matt shook his head. "Well, thanks for that." The Javelin slowed down until they hovered in front of the gate.

"Seraph?" She turned to face Matt.

"Yes?"

"I want to scout out the land a moment. This won't take long, I just want to make sure there aren't any Cabal around. I haven't run into one yet, and I'd rather we don't meet them on this mission."

She nodded. "Of course." She and Matt instantly transmitted down to the surface. Ash turned to look at Aria.

"Since when have we ever scouted the land before?" Aria shrugged.

"Maybe he's getting smarter, being more careful? It is true that we should have as few risks as possible here." Ash looked back at the console, a look of puzzlement and worry on her face.

-X-

"Why do you want to know?" Seraph narrowed her blue eye in worry.

"Just in case it needs to be done; you might be busy, and someone might need to get us out of there manually." Matt looked at her, hoping she'd take the bait. "So, how would I do it?"

She still seemed suspicious, but replied all the same. "Here, I've updated your wrist interface. All the members of the team are there; you can now choose to transmat them if the need arises. " He'd just asked her how to force a transmat like the Ghosts could. He would need it for the later part of his idea.

He nodded. "And it'll just transport us back here?" Seraph hesitated a moment before bobbing in agreement. He hated using the 'us' pronoun, but at least she wouldn't have any idea until the time came for him to enact his plan.

Matt's helmet speakers crackled to life. "Hello? Matt, what's taking so long?" He looked up at the Javelin hovering in the air still.

"It's all good to come down, Ash! Sorry for keeping you guys."

After a moment, both Ash and Aria materialized in the air, and landed on the sandy ground. "Took you long enough," said Aria, and both Guardians joined themselves at Matt's side.

"You ready?" Ash asked.

He looked at her. "Let's finish this."

Seraph moved up to the ring and presented the eye. Nothing happened for a moment, until blueish white waves of energy began to rupture the space in the center of the time gate. They spread until they reached the structures that contained it, and the portal opened. Light began to emit from it, and it shone on the Guardians, bathing them in blinding white color.

Seraph returned to Matt, the eye back in her storage. "The Portal will only remain open for a bit, you'll have to have the Gate Lord's eye to reopen it!"

He nodded, and faced the other two in respective glances. "For the Traveler!" He began to sprint into the portal, Ash and Aria following without even the slightest hesitation. So tightly bonded had they become in their travels that each Guardian had complete faith in the others' abilities, and had no qualms about following each other to the end of time… as they were technically about to do.

Matt felt his body push against the membrane of the portal; it felt almost like a liquid, and had slight resistance. He broke through it, and immediately found himself in a dark and badly lit corridor. Ash and Aria's footsteps followed a moment behind his, and the sounds echoed off the walls.

"Where are we?" asked Aria.

Seraph pulsed a few lights out, attempting to answer. "I don't really know. All of my navigation systems are going haywire from being in here. It's not on any known map of space and time, that's for sure." Mossy plant life covered much of the stone around, which appeared to resemble the Vex building blocks that now inhabited Venus. The portal behind them remained open.

"Alright, we haven't got much time." Matt began to set off down the hallway, Ash and Aria following behind. They rounded a corner and immediately readied their weapons at the sight of a Vex Goblin. But something was odd about it, and it did not move.

"It's in some kind of stasis," said Seraph in curiosity. "They all are." At her wording, they turned to look at the rest of the hallway to see rows of the odd Goblins all frozen and inactive. They wore loin-cloths, and moss dangled from their heads. They appeared to be older, more worn than the Vex they'd faced before. If it was true that they were locked out of time currently, these Goblins could have been from the past, stuck for millennia in this state.

They once again began their journey towards the heart. After navigating through some more passages, and ascending a long staircase, they were greeted by a stunning view.

"Whoa," muttered Ash. For miles upon miles, rows and walls of flowers and plants lined the interior of the Black Garden. Off in the distance, Matt could see mountain ranges, emphasizing how vast the garden truly was.

"I think that's where the heart is," said Seraph, indicating a large mass of black shadow that rose out of a pit situated roughly a half mile from them.

Massive rock walls formed a spherical container, almost as though they were inside the core of a planet, or large asteroid. Matt didn't really care where they were, only that it ceased to exist soon. "C'mon," he said, and they began to walk towards the right, the only real path they could take towards the heart.

As they strode along the walkways, Matt marveled at the lack of resistance. Apparently the Vex had never expected anyone to ever breach their sanctuary here, and hadn't taken the time to place defenses. Goblins in stasis continued to appear in the hallways, their eyes devoid of any glow, and almost peaceful looking. Occasionally, breaks in the walls allowed them to see the Garden, and Matt had to admit, it looked like quite the beautiful place. Why the Vex had need of beauty when they hated all life, he had no idea. It reminded him of the lotus flower, luring you in with appearance, but consuming you with the Darkness. He shook his head to clear out the bad thoughts.

Eventually, they came to a large circular door, with layers of metal providing cover for what lay beyond. A single conflux stood in front of it. "Beyond that is the heart. Let me scan the conflux." Matt allowed Seraph to fly over, and begin analyzing it. Thin blue beams shot from her eye into the conflux as she attempted to open the door. "There! All we need is permission to enter… as a Gate Lord."

Seraph materialized the Gate Lord's eye, and allowed the conflux to scan it. Suddenly, a rectangular blue monolith formed at the top of the conflux, marked with various lines and patterns. They felt a rumble, and turned to see a spire constructing itself out of the cubic white light that seemed to be associated with Vex structure. Once it was fully built, they watched the blue monolith rise into the air, until it split along all the seams in its glass-like material, separating along the lines that traversed its surface. The pieces moved around to create an intricate web of glass shards hovering in the air. A beam of light shot out of the spire, and hit a cylindrical piece of glass. It then split into several other beams, refracting and reflecting off the other shards until they came back together and entered a circular slot in the massive door.

The reaction was immediate, and the layers of the door began to shift and peel upwards to reveal an entryway. Greenish yellow light poured out from it, and washed over them, giving off a sickly appearance in color. The Guardians stood shoulder to shoulder, realizing the significance of what they were about to do. Matt took a few steps forward, with one hand back to signal that the other two should wait a moment. Then he turned back to look at Seraph.

"Alright, Seraph. The eye?" Seraph flew closer to him confusedly, and handed him the eye, its red light now beginning to flicker on and off.

Ash narrowed her eyes, trying to work out what was going on here. "Matt? Why do you need the eye?"

He looked at her, and she felt that behind his helmet he was giving her a sad sort of smile, one of regret. "I'll need to to activate the time gate again, assuming I survive killing the heart."

She held a hand up, trying to stop him from saying what she thought he was saying. "You mean when _we_ kill the heart, right?" He looked down slightly, and then looked back at her and Aria.

"No. Just me. If what Echo said is true, then it's way too dangerous to risk all three of us; I'd rather only have to lose one of us than everyone."

Now Aria entered the conversation. "What, you don't think we can handle this?"

He rounded on her directly. "It's not that I don't think you can handle this. It's that I'm not sure if we can do it without running out of time or dying in the process. And I value you two too much to allow that." He faced Ash again, and this time Ash knew that he was giving her the smile she'd thought he had been before. "I want you to know that I really do wish I could do this with you. But I won't have any more loved ones deaths on my conscience." Without another word to either of them, he held up his wrist interface and tapped a few times.

A blue light materialized, and Ash saw herself, Aria, and Seraph surrounded in the familiar grid that signaled a transmat. She tried to escape, to run to Matt and go with him, to face whatever enemies dared to think they could break their team apart, but her efforts were in vain.

Matt watched his companions disappear, including Seraph, and suddenly he felt more alone then he had in all of his new life. Even as a newborn Guardian, he'd had Seraph for company. But now, nobody walked at his side. No one would be there to help him up if he fell. With a sigh of acceptance, he turned and peered into the vault-like opening. Beyond the green mist that poured out, he could see a silent and still ceremony, witnessed by frozen Vex Goblins and three ancient statues. In the air was a pulsating, blackness oozing object that appeared to be more fluid than solid, and he could almost feel hatred radiating off of it. It was definitely the heart of the Black Garden.

As he walked through the opening, he noticed movement in the ranks of the Goblins. Frozen in stasis for so long, he could hear the squeaking of aged metal, and watched as mossy growth swung from their heads as they turned to face the being intruding upon their sacred ritual.

He took a good look at all of them, sizing up his opponents. He nodded to himself, satisfied, and looked at the eye in his hand. Its light continued to blink until it faded away, and winked out of existence; dead. He sighed. "Well, only one course of action here." Before he did anything else, he pulled out the photographs that he'd kept in a pocket of his belt. He held them up to his visor, looking at the expressions on his, Lucas's, and Sara's faces, as well as the twins'. All happy, all smiling. A ghost of a happier time.

He muttered, "I'm coming, guys. Just be patient for a few more minutes."

He clenched his fist in emotion, and stuffed them back into the pocket he'd pulled them out of. Then, he readied his hand cannon, looked at the heart, and gathered his courage. "The Traveler sends its regards, and would like to tell you to burn in hell."

He charged into the fray.

-X-

Aria felt her feet land on metal. She looked around to see the interior of the Javelin. Whip and Echo were nearby, hovering over the console, and turned in surprise to see their Guardians back on the ship. Ash balled her hands into fists in frustration, and then turned to Seraph. "What the hell just happened?!"

The young Ghost seemed at a loss for words. "He- he just forced a transmat on us. He… lied to me."

"Well, can't you just transmat him too? Bring him back here if you can't bring us to him?" Ash was searching for any way to come out of the situation on top.

Seraph glowed blue for a moment in an attempt to do just that, but the light disappeared just as fast as it had come. "He's locked himself out; I can't transmat him!"

Ash walked forward a few feet to look out of the viewport, and saw the time gate into the Black Garden deactivating. The waves of energy that formed the portal had begun to shrink with idle activity, and disappeared, leaving behind nothing but an empty ring. Ash turned around and punched a corner of the Pilot's seat. The metal dented, and crumpled beneath her force.

"Goddamn it, no! We can't just leave him in there!"

Seraph looked at her. "Didn't you just see that? Only the Gate Lord's eye can activate it now, I can't do anything!"

Whip now flew closer, curious. "What's going on?"

Ash took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Matt just decided to one-man-army the Black Garden, and now we can't get back to him. He forced us to transmat."

Seraph faced Whip. "He said that going alone was the only way to protect them."

Aria watched Seraph spin around to indicate Ash and herself, and she realized that Matt was only trying to place his friends lives above his, however misguided he was acting. Ash wasn't having any of it.

"We need to go back! He'll die if we don't help him!"

Seraph's eye closed sadly. "There's nothing I can do."

Aria thought to herself, agreeing with Ash that they needed to get back to Matt. But how?

"Seraph, how does the Gate Lord's eye work?"

She looked at Aria. "It acts like a key; it unlocks the portal like a door." Aria closed her eyes, trying to think.

"Okay, the eye unlocks the portal. But now that it's already been unlocked, can't we just- I don't know, tell it to open manually? Every door has a doorknob, however odd that analogy seems."

Seraph looked down, pondering. Then she snapped up to face Aria again.

"I'm not sure, but there is something I can try. If it works, then by all means, let's go save him. Lord knows I don't want my Guardian dead."

Aria locked gazes with the Ghost. "Do it."

-X-

Matt crouched behind a block of stone, his cloak smoking in several places from Vex fire that had singed holes through it. His armor was peeling in several places from the wear that their many weapons were placing upon it. Luckily, he only had a few more to go.

He popped back out from behind cover, and summoned what light he could being this close to such a dark entity. He entered his Blade Dancer's trance, and sprinted at the various Goblin that shot at him. He tore through the ranks, metal limbs flying in every direction. He spun and attacked, dodged, attacked again with a swipe, dodged, weaving in and out through the dangerous opponents. He felt the exhilarating rush of light that coursed through him while in his trance leave his body, and he felt drained. Fortunately, he'd managed to kill every last Vex enemy in the area. He pointed at the heart in a 'what now' sort of gesture.

"Is that it? Don't put up much of a fight, do you?" He almost laughed, before he saw an aura of sickening yellow light expel itself from the heart. It traveled towards one of the statues, the one on the far left side of the arena, and he watched it seep into the cracks and crevices of the stone. Suddenly, rumbling noises began to emit from it, and he saw the cracks in the statue widen and spread across the surface. He noticed now that the statues were of giant Vex beings, larger than the Gate Lord that his fireteam had faced, and with a roar, the massive Vex broke free of its stone prison. Chunks of rock flew everywhere, and it stepped onto the ground, looking around to land its gaze on Matt, the only threat in the room.

"I had to open my mouth, didn't I?" he muttered, and the oversized Vex enemy emitted a series of squeals in his direction before charging towards him.

He rolled to the right side of it before it brought its massive arm down on the area he'd just been standing in before. The stone cracked under the pressure, and Matt felt the ground quake from the impact. He spun to face it, and he moved to summon his rocket launcher that Seraph kept in storage, before realizing that she was gone, and he had nothing but a sniper and a hand cannon. He swore loudly, and ducked to avoid the Vex's fist swing in an arc that would have decapitated him. After it swung, he saw that it too had a white center like all Vex. On a hunch, he used his hand cannon and fired off multiple rounds into the glass cover that protected the wiring inside.

It took but a few shots before the glass shattered, and he jumped onto its waist, holding onto its sides to keep from falling off as it swung itself around in an effort to fling him free. Pulling out his knife with one hand, he reached into its interior, and began randomly slicing with excess force, cutting through vital wiring and machinery that allowed the machine to function. With a loud and drawn out groan, the Vex sank to its knees, and pitched over to the side, unable to continue working.

He let go of it, panting from his effort to hold on, only for another cloud of yellowish light to travel into the statue directly behind him, to the far right of the chamber. He turned, and tried to ready himself, though he now felt unsteady on his feet. His only consolation was that the heart appeared to be pulsing more frantically now, more desperate than it had appeared to be at the beginning of this confrontation. Perhaps if he kept killing these things, the heart would die.

The new Vex enemy sprang to life from its entombment, and it immediately began to focus fire on Matt. He rolled to avoid a blast of purple energy it fired at him, and he unslung his sniper. He fired round after round into its chest cavity, breaking the glass again and sending one round tearing through the core. It obviously damaged the creature, but it wasn't enough, and it attempted to flatten him beneath its feet. He dodged again, and summoned every ounce of light he had to bring forth his Golden Gun. He shot off all his rounds into the central wiring of the Vex, and now smoking through various holes in its armor, it too crumpled like the first.

He knelt down to regain his strength, now feeling as though something had sucked the life out of him. He nearly passed out from exhaustion, and only through sheer luck managed to register the sound of stone crumbling in his vicinity.

He spun around too late to see that the third statue had come to life, and it reached down to grab him in its oversized fists. He found himself struggling against its grip, and try as he might he could not escape. It began to squeeze, trying to break him with sheer force. He felt something crack in his chest region, and realized some of his ribs had just splintered into small pieces.

He gasped to get air, and felt a stabbing pain in his lower back and rib area. The Vex turned, and threw him nearly fifteen meters onto a raised platform that acted as a bridge between stone pyramidal structures that adorned either side of the massive chamber. He slid several feet, and hit his head against a wall of stone that connected to the bridge. He saw a flash of blackness in his vision, and felt his mind shutting down from pain. With a grunt of effort, he forced himself to stay awake, and refrain from entering unconsciousness.

Though he was easy pickings now, the Vex seemed reluctant to come any closer, and almost appeared confused. He remained curious of its change of heart, until he heard a familiar voice say, "Come on. It's not over yet." He turned his bruised head to see Ash leaning forward, and extending her hand to him. Aria stood behind her, watching their exchange.

He asked, "Is this one of those parts in movies where the hero hallucinates of his closest friends accompanying him before he faces death?"

Ash smirked, but he could tell she was still pissed. "Only if he's about to die because his best friend is gonna kick his ass in anger after she saves his life. Now hurry up, my arm's getting tired." With a sigh, he took her hand, and she pulled him up slightly so he could sit up straight with his back against the stone. He looked at her.

"How did you two even get back here?"

Ash gestured to Seraph. "Apparently the Gate Lord's eye activated the time gate for an extended time, rather than just as a one off. It only deactivated to save power. Seraph just approached it, presented a digital imprint of the eye that she'd collected, and the portal opened again. Since I'm assuming that the eye is dead, we've only got a few minutes perhaps before it closes for good." She nodded her head towards the Vex. "Aria and I'll take care of him. You've done enough." With that, she turned and sprinted towards the large Vex, Aria following behind her. It shrieked, and moved to accept their challenge.

Seraph moved closer to him. Her blue scanning beam shot out from her eye, and she analyzed his body. "You've got minor fractures all over your bones, your lower two left ribs have completely shattered into splinters, and several sharp pieces of them have punctured your left lung. You've also got a dislocated shoulder, a concussion, and possible brain damage from head trauma. I can't believe that you thought this was the best course of action."

Matt watched his friends fighting the Vex, and though they were powerful, he still felt the need to help. He looked over at Seraph. "I need my rocket launcher, quick. I might be out physically, but I can still contribute."

Aria dodged multiple swipes of the large fists that were connected to the powerful Vex being. She jumped into the air, and summoning her void energy, launched a Nova Bomb at it. It missed by a few feet but managed to land close enough to disintegrate part of its lower leg, and stagger it. She watched Ash fly into the fight, and use her arc powered fists to channel her Fist of Havoc into the ground at its feet. Electric surges rode up into its circuits, and several mechanisms in its legs stopped working, forcing it to fall to its knees.

"Hey, metalhead!" Aria heard the hoarse voice of Matt call out to the Vex, and it turned its massive head towards him. Sitting against the stone rock that they'd left him on, he now wielded his rocket launcher. He fired two rounds into the chest of it. The first impacted against its armor, and broke the plating that protected the vital machinery inside. The second rocket slammed through the interior, and ripped through its wiring. The projectile then exploded, incinerating the entire torso of the enormous Vex in one fell swoop. Its arms and head fell to the ground, now unsupported by a chest or upper body at all.

"That should do it!" cried Seraph. Aria looked to see the heart now ceasing to pulse, and instead begin to slowly disintegrate. Black ashes began to fly off of it, and she saw that not only the heart, but the stone and surrounding area were beginning to dissolve as well.

"The Black Garden's reality is falling apart!" she yelled, and Ash nodded, jumping and using her thrusters to land next to Matt. Without a word, she slung him over her shoulder, and began to run back towards the entrance to the heart's lair. Aria followed closely behind, noticing more and more black ash filling the air as reality itself began to erase and dissolve in the time stream.

Ash and Aria continued to run through the entrance, and entered the labyrinth of corridors and passages back towards the time gate. The dilution of the dimension itself continued to chase them, urging them forward to avoid being erased from existence. After several minutes, the other side of the time gate came into view, and Seraph flew ahead to present the digital imprint.

"Hurry, the gate's nearly dead!" she shouted. White waves of energy began to weakly create the portal, and it now appeared to be unstable, drawing from its last reserves of energy to sustain itself. Ash and Aria said nothing, and instead continued to run towards their escape, with Matt still hanging on Ash's back.

Aria briefly turned to see a horrifying sight; nothing remained of the black garden behind them besides the corridor they were running in, which also was beginning to convert to ash, the time stream eating away at the very fabric of space and time here. It left behind nothing but pitch black void that swallowed up all the light in the realm. She faced forward again, and entered an even faster sprint to carry her through to safety. The portal started to flicker in and out until she pushed through the membrane with Ash at her side, and-

She fell forward, tumbling through the rusty sand dune of Mars that they'd landed on, Ash falling as well and losing her hold on Matt. Both the Titan and the Hunter rolled down the incline to slide into place next to Aria at the bottom. She turned to watch the time gate as the waves of energy began to shake in place, and suddenly the structure of the gate itself exploded in reaction to its sibling being erased from existence itself. The burning bars of metal curled in on themselves, and cooled in the Mars climate.

"Ow." Both Aria and Ash looked to see Matt groaning in pain, his dislocated arm pinned under Ash's weight.

"Sorry!" Ash rose up, and began to pull him up as well, into an upright position. Without warning, she gripped his arm, and shoved it back into place in its socket. He yelped from the shock. "Oh, you're lucky that's all I'm gonna do after the stunt you pulled," she growled. "That was one of the dumbest things you've ever done, not to mention that you left me and Aria thinking you were dead for sure."

Aria joined in now. "Yeah, what the hell were you thinking in there? We thought we'd lost you!" He shrugged in response, his nonchalance all the more infuriating.

"Well, I'm right here, so no need to worry." He gave a tired laugh, but Aria knew that neither she nor Ash were gonna be laughing for a while.

"Indeed, you're right here. Such a perfect opportunity, especially in the condition you're in."

Aria spun around, and though she was tired, she geared up for another fight at the sound of the all too familiar menacing voice. Ash immediately placed herself between Matt and the newcomer, shielding him from attack. Standing a few meters in front of them was the Messenger, and several Cabal were situated around him and them. The stood taller than any of the enemies they'd faced before, massive eight hundred pound mounds of muscle and armor, ready to squash her at the slightest inclination. She realized that they were surrounded in a circle of foes, and summoned what energy she had to prepare for a fight. Fire danced around the palms of her hands, and she entered a battle stance. The Messenger held up a hand.

"Before we begin, I'd like to discuss a very important matter, if it's all the same to you." He faced Ash now, and his metallic features contorted themselves into a genuine expression of- was that sadness? "I can't believe it's you, after all this time. I had my doubts, but I have seen for myself that it is true. You've returned!"

Ash kept her weapon raised, but replied back, attempting to get some answers. "I don't know what you're talking about, but you're more than welcome to explain. Who are you, really?"

His face looked pained at her lack of recognition. "I understand that it was likely you wouldn't remember anything if you were gallivanting around with this lot, but I still hoped you at least would recall me."

Ash's visor depolarized, and Aria watched her eyes narrow at the Messenger. "Still doesn't explain much, and I don't know where your path and mine intersect. Please explain, before I lose my patience."

He nodded. "Very well."

"There were three of us, three chosen soldiers, bred for battle. The Darkness can't make life in a natural organic form, as life is its opposite, but it can certainly fill beings with its own power. We were old and forgotten carcasses, robotic companions that had long since rusted and died, thrown out by the humans that had no need of dysfunctional machines. We were dead, empty shells that continued to erode until the Darkness found us, and brought us back for its own purposes. We sought revenge against the light which had cast us out and left us to rot, and the Darkness provided exactly that possibility. It repaired us, redesigned us, and gave us new purpose and life in the goal of unleashing death." He shrugged. "It saw that Guardians were the apparent pawns of the Traveler, used to fight its battles, and considering how effective a strategy it proved to be, decided to make its own Guardians, its own wardens of the Darkness to oppose the blinding and insufferable light spread by the Traveler and humanity."

Ash stood steady on her feet, but her voice shook as she asked her next question; "Who was I? What was I called?"

He looked at her, his face full of hope that she would be converted to his side. "We had no names, save for our purpose. Mine, the Messenger, created to talk and command the armies of the Darkness in movements against the light. Another, the Assassin, used to eliminate troublesome Guardians and high value followers of the light that threatened to oppose our mission. She left quite a while ago, tainted by pathetic feelings of remorse and guilt, instead opting to once again work for those who had so mistreated her in her past life." He gestured at Ash now. "And you, the Warrior. Valiant defender of us and the Darkness, you prevented any major opposition that carried the potential to throw our plans off track."

A pained expression returned to his face. "That was how you died. I advised you against it, but you stubbornly said that you could handle a rumored uprising we'd heard about, and that some jobs needed to be done by those willing to place themselves below the needs of their allies. You did always put me and the Assassin before yourself, often placing yourself in the line of danger to stop us from a stray bullet or two. You set out that day intending to crush a minor force of the City, but you weren't ready for the full-fledged ambush that awaited you. You took nearly everyone down with you, I could tell from the body count, but you were beyond recovery. The Darkness may have said to leave you, but I admit that was the one time I felt reluctant to obey." Now a smile came onto his features, and Aria found it oddly disturbing. "But now, you're back! Back after nearly two decades, and I promise that we can still win this war."

He held out his hand, offering it to her. "Join me once more, and I will never allow harm to come to you again. You didn't understand what you were doing in the Black Garden, and all can be forgiven if you just repent and come back to your true side, your family."

Ash now shook in both shock and moral agony of learning what she had once been. The Messenger had spoken of her slaughtering Guardians, fellow members of the light, easily and without mercy. Had she truly been such a sadistic worshipper of the Darkness? If she was such a monster, perhaps she _did_ belong with the Messenger and the Dark.

She heard a noise, and turned to see Matt moving slightly behind her. Sitting up on the bank of sand behind her, he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. His visor depolarized as well, and she could see an expression of pleading in his eyes. As she stared into his face, she thought back to the Exo stranger's words; _Perhaps I fought for a side too long before realizing I was on the wrong one._ Ash knew now that she'd once been an ally of the Darkness, but that didn't mean she'd been right the first time. She didn't have to be 'the Warrior' anymore, she was Ash; Guardian of the Traveler.

Slowly, turned again, and shook her head at the Messenger. His eyes narrowed in concern, and he hurriedly said, "Please don't do this. You have no idea how long I've missed you. Don't make me destroy you!"

She placed her gun on her back, but raised her fists, saying, "Easier said than done."

The Messenger lowered his head, reluctant of what he was about to do. From his despairing appearance he muttered, "Very well." He waved his hand, and immediately the Cabal around them fired their cannons directly at the Guardians.

Aria closed her eyes, but felt nothing, and opened them again to see that Ash had placed a Ward of Dawn around them. Her face was screwed up in concentration, focusing on blocking out the missiles. Aria turned to Seraph and asked, "Where's our evac?" The Ghost looked at her and replied, "Already on their way. Should be here in a few seconds."

Indeed, the scream of the Javelin soaring across the sky could be heard mere moments later, and Aria prepared for a transmat. She had but a second to see the Messenger yell, "NO!" before she felt herself falling into place on her seat. She fastened her harness as they accelerated out of the atmosphere, and looked at Ash piloting the ship. The Titan remained silent, but her hands gripped the controls exceptionally hard, and the Warlock wondered if the Exo was just trying to keep herself from breaking down at the moment.

Matt finally passed out in his seat, finally succumbing to his injuries, his head lolling to the side as the Javelin rattled from the speed they were using to escape the planet's gravity. Aria gripped the armrests as she feared that the ship would shake itself apart if they kept up this pace. Finally, it ceased, and they continued on their journey home. A beeping noise emitted from the console, and Ash looked over to peer at the radar. She swore. "We're being followed! There's a ship a few hundred meters behind, gaining fast!"

Aria leaned forward to indeed see a white dot moving closer and closer to their own dot in the center of the radar. When it looked like it was nearly upon them, Aria glanced at the external monitors of the Javelin, to see a dark grey and odd looking ship catching up to them. To her incredible shock, she watched it pull up alongside their ship, and then a hatch opened at the top to reveal the Messenger. He began to stand on the exterior of the ship as they flew through space, and he made his way to their ship, hopping aboard. He began to approach the engines on either side of the Javelin.

"Shit, he's going to try and sabotage our engines! He's gotta be magnetizing himself to the metal of the ship to keep from flying off!" Ash began to unbuckle herself from her harness, but stopped at the feeling of Aria's hand on her shoulder.

"I can do this, just keep flying," said the young Warlock, and without waiting for an answer she turned to Echo who was looking nervously at her. "Can you do the same thing Echo, magnetize my boots to the exterior?"

He moved towards her feet, shot a few beams of blue light at the metal soles of her shoes, and looked up again. "You're good to go." She nodded, and grabbed a sturdy metal cable nearby.

"Come with me, I might need you." She made sure her helmet was sealed to keep in oxygen, and began to climb up out of the hatch that allowed access to the outside.

There was no wind, but she felt herself beginning to lean towards the rear of the ship as momentum against the ship's trajectory caused her to angle backwards. She fully climbed out as the power of the engines provided some sound by reverberating throughout the metal plating of the ship, sounding like low hums and echoes. Once the hatch door was closed, she spied the Messenger still struggling to move towards the engines. She changed her channel frequency to open so he could hear her, and yelled, "Don't touch it! If this ship goes down, Ash goes down too!"

He turned to face her. "Oh, once I take out the engines, I'll make sure to collect the Warrior before the ship explodes. I won't allow her to die the death that awaits you and the disgusting human!" He then looked back to the engine's propulsion, and grabbing a grenade from his belt, he jammed it into the spinning rotors of the propulsion intake. After a second's pause, a somewhat muffled explosion appeared, and vanished, the lack of oxygen in space immediately stopping the fire in the vacuum.

With no time to waste, she began to move as fast as she could towards him. He turned, and began to shoot void projectiles at her, much like she had with the Minotaurs on Venus. She brought her arms up, and created a flame shield, incinerating the shards before they reached her, and remaining unharmed. With a yell, he began to summon a large ball of void energy to throw at her, but she had prepared, and concentrated on controlling the void energy in his hand. With some focus, she managed to make it explode, and it threw him backwards, detaching his feet from the hull of the ship. With a wild swing, he managed to grasp onto a handle that was meant to be held in external repair situations, and held on while Aria still moved forward.

Echo appeared at her side, and she began to issue orders. "Hey, start working on the engine and fix it! I'll deal with him!" The Ghost flew over to the damaged mechanism, and began repairing it, removing shards that were blocking the rotors from spinning. She kept walking until she stood next to the Messenger who was hanging along for dear life. She brought her hand up to push him off, but a sudden lurch in the ship caused by the unequal power distribution between the engines knocked her off her feet as well. She too gripped a nearby handle to prevent herself from flying off into space.

The Messenger took the opportunity to use his free hand to try and punch Aria, in an attempt to knock her loose. She retaliated, using her corresponding hand to block blows, and attack him as well. She spoke over the comms, directly to Ash; "Start rolling the ship!"

"What?!" came the reply. She yelled into her speakers, "He's almost loose! Start spinning to fling him off!"

She heard a groan of worry on Ash's side, but sure enough, the Javelin began to enter a barrel roll. The centripetal force began to throw Aria and the Messenger out into the fringes of the circle the ship was making. They continued to punch at each other, both refusing to give up. Fortunately, Aria had backup.

The engine that had been filled with blockage had started up again, having been fixed by Echo. After doing his job, the Ghost made his way over to where his Guardian was fighting for her life against the Messenger.

Echo moved over to them, trying to help Aria. He began to emit a harsh white light from his eye, burning through the handle that the Messenger was holding onto, and melting the metal. The Messenger now focused on the Ghost, trying to swipe at him and stop him, but the damage was done. With a final slice, and a kick in the chest from Aria, the Messenger's handhold fell away from the ship, and he spun out into the emptiness of space. The ship that had been next to the Javelin had stopped, so that it could retrieve him. The Javelin moved on unhindered.

"Ash, stop spinning, and enter warp-space!" shouted Aria. Ash gave no response, but the ship indeed stopped spinning a moment later. Aria took a moment to fasten the cable she'd grabbed to her handhold and to her armor, so that she was prevented from flying off. She hugged the hull of the ship, and as the bluish white light of warp-space began to envelop the Javelin, she allowed herself to pass out.

-X-

Matt opened his eyes.

He was in a white bed, with the walls and decor of the room he was in reflecting the same color. He supposed he was in an infirmary. He heard the door open, and looking over to his left, he watched Ash walk in. She had removed her armor, and just wore her black jump suit.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

He tentatively moved his body around. His arm now felt fine, but there was still a lot of pain in his rib area and head, albeit a lot less than right after he'd been smacked by the giant Vex. "Yeah, somewhat."

"Seraph fixed what she could while we were on the Javelin. Once we arrived at the Tower and brought you here, one of the medical Warlocks came in here and used a portion of radiance on you. Though since you're not a Warlock as well, and not really made to handle abilities like that, she could only give it to you in bits and doses." Ash sat down on the bed, and a serious expression adorned her face. "You were so close to dying, it was scary. Your heart actually stopped once while she was healing."

She looked like she was about to cry, though obviously she couldn't. She sat down on the bed next to him, and he felt the need to comfort her. "It's alright Ash, everything's gonna be okay."

"No, it isn't." She sounded a bit choked up. "Didn't you hear what the Messenger said? About what I used to be, _who_ I used to be?"

He nodded. "Of course I heard it, but that doesn't change anything. _You_ never killed anyone, the Warrior did. And _she_ doesn't exist anymore, you do."

She looked at him with pain in her eyes. "But we're the same person! Different memories maybe, but still the same! How could I have been so evil, so… dark?" Her electric blue eyes were staring into Matt's, as she sought for any possible answer that could quell her fears.

He tried. "That's the thing, you're not the same. Had you been the same, you wouldn't have saved us from the Messenger, wouldn't have allowed us to escape, wouldn't still be fighting for the Traveler even now!"

Apparently it wasn't enough. "That's no excuse. I could still have some remnant of her inside me, just waiting to be released. And both you and Aria are in danger as long as I remain close to you." He opened his mouth to begin the next stage of his argument, but stopped once he'd registered what she'd said. "Wait, as long as you're close to us? What do you mean?"

She gave a sad and regretful expression. "I mean, that we can't do this anymore. For as long as I'm a risk to the two of you, I can't take the chance of allowing any past form of the Warrior to take hold."

He grabbed her hand fiercely. "That's a risk I'm willing to take. Regardless of who you used to be, think of who you are _now!_ You're my best friend, one of the only constants I've had in my new life. Please don't do this!" he pleaded.

She just shook her head. "I'm sorry, Matt." She then stood up from the bed, and walked out the door of the room. Matt still sat upright, stunned from the recent events, somehow now feeling worse than he had before she'd come in.


	10. Manifest Destiny

Matt leaned on the railing, waiting for Ash to join him. This was gonna be a turning point in her life; a point where maybe she'd find out some definitive answers. He could tell how big a deal this was, and so wasn't worried at how numb she seemed to be to the whole situation; it was just her coping mechanism. Still, it didn't stop him from wishing he could help her more.

For the last two months as defenses had been built up around the City, she'd been working through her issues. Matt had been as helpful as he could, but it had become difficult with her pushing him and Aria away or ignoring any feelings other than distant and professional interactions between the two of them when they came together. He could tell it pained her almost as much as it pained him, but she still managed to keep it up. After what she'd dealt with recently, he didn't really blame her for trying to maintain her vigilance, and he thought back to the events after they'd killed the Black Garden's heart…

* * *

\- 2 Months Ago, 2 Days After the Black Garden's Destruction -

* * *

Aria helped Matt as she, him, and Ash walked into the Vanguards' chambers. The radiance therapy had continued to help Matt over the last two days, but it hadn't healed him completely yet, and he was forced to walk around with a set of plate-like bandages wrapped around his abdomen at all times to keep the broken shards of his ribs from bursting through his stomach. Descending the four steps and moving to the Vanguard's table was a bitch, but he shut his mouth, refusing to even give off any idea of the pain he was feeling, lest they keep him in the infirmary longer. He hated it there, stuck in a bed and treated as though he were some incapable weakling. All he'd been waiting to do was get out of that room, and he wasn't going to ruin any chance of getting out sooner.

The Vanguards stood in their normal positions. This time, instead of standing next to their respective mentors, the three Guardians took up the vacancy between Cayde and Ikora, unconsciously moving to keep themselves together, having bonded so strongly throughout their struggles.

"So," began Zavala, "Do you want to tell us where you've been on and off to for the past week? Only one day have you come back to the Tower, and then you were gone the next. It's been nearly two days since any contact with you three, and suddenly you rush back here, all of you in exhaustive conditions, and he's nearly dead with more injuries than we could count," he said, gesturing at Matt. "Explain."

Aria took a deep breath, ready to talk. Matt wasn't going to, what with pain searing up his chest every time he took a breath, and Ash didn't need to personally retell any of the traumatic experience. "We were contacted a while ago by a mysterious stranger, an Exo woman. She told us things that we needed to tell you, but there hasn't been much time. We decided to do what we could by ourselves, so that if there was a trap set aside for us, nobody else would be caught in the crossfire." The three Vanguards still looked slightly frustrated, but their harsh expressions lessened at hearing that they'd remained out of contact for others' protection.

"She told us of the Darkness's plan, its scheme for the Traveler and humanity's extinction. There were three components, one of which we managed to stop." She passed a moment to indicate herself and her companions. "First was the Spark of the Traveler, stolen long ago by the Darkness's armies, likely the Vex, though possibly the Messenger himself."

Ikora gasped. "So our suspicions were correct! We may not have been alive at the time of the Collapses end, but we had heard rumors and legends of something being taken from the Traveler, responsible for its comatose state."

Aria nodded. "We haven't been able to do anything about that, but we managed to stop the second phase of the plan; the Black Garden's heart that has been siphoning off the Traveler's remaining life for decades, possibly longer. With the help of the Awoken, we-"

Cayde held a hand up. "Wait, what do the Awoken have to do with this?" She faced him.

"They granted us access to the Garden by means of extracting a Gate Lord's eye. Though the Prince was less than helpful, we- or I rather- am in debt to the Queen for her assistance."

He nodded, satisfied with this knowledge. "Alright, I get it now. Continue." She did so.

"Well, we faced down the Black Garden's heart, and lived to tell the tale. Due to this dolt's idea of self-sacrifice-" she pointed vigorously at Matt, "-he managed to get banged up pretty badly before Ash and I came in to assist him. He tried to fight it alone, but obviously he wasn't as prepared as he thought. Still managed to take it on for quite a while, though. Anyway, that's how he became so badly injured."

"And the third phase?" asked Zavala.

"The third phase of the plan is the one to come; the Darkness and the Messenger plan a full scale invasion of the City." None of the Vanguards responded to this, too shocked for words. "The Spark was stolen to keep the Traveler from producing light. The Black Garden siphoned off massive amounts of its remaining light that it still had. And now that the Traveler is vulnerable, the armies of the Darkness will come and destroy it for good unless we begin rallying defenses."

Ikora looked at her, and said, "We'll begin as soon as we conclude this debriefing. Is there anything else we should know?"

Aria bit her lip, but proceeded to say, "Well, yes. We learned that the Messenger wasn't operating alone. At least, not always. The Exo stranger we found was called, 'the Assassin'. She-"

"The Assassin?!" yelled Zavala. "She still lives?!" All three Guardians were stunned by his quite vocal expression.

"Y-yes," stammered Aria.

"Many of our finest commanders and leaders were slaughtered by her long ago, when I was still under the command of the previous Vanguard. What motive would she have to help you?" Though only Zavala expressed his hatred, Cayde and Ikora's expressions appeared to agree with his sentiments.

Aria tried to defend the stranger. "She said something along the lines of her having fought for the wrong side. She spent all of her interactions with us helping our cause, and helping us stop the Darkness. I believe that whoever she used to be, she's changed."

Zavala snarled. "Perhaps, but I still wouldn't trust her. Once a minion of the Darkness, it is very difficult to go back. It corrupts, and twists your soul. It may be possible, but I've never seen any successful examples."

Looking down, Ash shuffled her feet in sad anxiety, after hearing what her mentor had to say. "I suppose, that's why we never heard of the Messenger before. While she mercilessly killed our leaders and was publicized, he stood behind the front lines and had long chats with the Darkness, the coward." Aria ignored his ranting, and continued.

"In addition, we also learned for the first time about 'the Warrior', the third-" Now Ikora raised her voice as well, apparently just as mad as Zavala.

"That scum still lives as well?! Why, never have we encountered such a formidable enemy! If I were to ever meet her, I swear upon the Traveler-"

Aria interrupted her quickly. "She doesn't live anymore! At least, not exactly." Cayde adjusted his hood, akin to scratching his head. "You're gonna have to be a bit more specific than that, Warlock."

She swallowed. "Well you see, she doesn't live as 'the Warrior'. She was awoken by a Ghost with no recollection of her past, and proceeded to join the Traveler's forces as her first action of her new life."

Ikora looked concerned. "But that story sounds remarkably similar to-" Slowly, all three of the Vanguards' gazes turned to Ash, who they now realized was looking rather sad and attempting to avoid their gazes.

Ikora wasted no time, and began to summon void energy. "If you thought a little redemption would save you from our wrath, you were sorely mistaken." Zavala looked conflicted, and Cayde seemed surprised by the sudden shift in the room. Ash on the other hand, looked petrified, and only held her hands up to shield herself, not even thinking of attacking the Warlock. The ball in Ikora's hand grew brighter, and she said, "Good riddance!"

"NO!" Matt jumped in front of Ash, and used himself as a shield between her and the rage-filled Ikora.

"Out of the way, Hunter!" yelled the Vanguard, usually so calm and composed, now looking quite menacing in her fury. Matt paid no mind to either her or the pain in his chest, and slammed his hand on the table.

"I will not! Ash has done nothing wrong! She is not 'the Warrior' which you all hate, and has done nothing in this life except devote herself towards saving the Traveler!"

"That's a foolish gambit!" replied Ikora. "As Zavala said, once a minion of the Darkness, always a minion!" Zavala hung his head in guilt for having doomed his protégé. "What if she has simply been a spy, waiting for the right time to strike?" Ash felt offended and hurt, as every word of Ikora's accusations sliced through her heart like a dagger.

"She's had more than enough opportunity in all these months of her second life to betray us, but she's never done anything of the kind, nor do I think she ever will! Why would she help us kill the Black Garden's heart otherwise?" Matt challenged. Ikora had no words for this, and Cayde unexpectedly jumped in.

"You know, it's not too crazy to believe." Ikora's head snapped towards the Hunter Vanguard.

"If you have something to add, say it!"

Cayde walked slowly towards Ash, trying not to provoke Ikora. "Well, while we Exo's have been gifted with souls like humans by the Traveler, ours don't work the same way. A human's soul is bound to their brain and mind, their genes; they are born with a set personality and traits that are determined by chromosomes and DNA. But Exos' bodies are built without set parameters, and their souls are free of bounds. While the Warrior's soul may have once inhabited the same body, it is the mind and soul of Ash that uses it now." He faced his fellow Exo. "In other words, she's a completely different person. None of what happened due to the Warrior's rampage is her responsibility."

Ikora accepted this information, and the void energy in her hand disappeared. "Very well. But I still do not think this a wise move."

Matt looked at her and said, "I do. I'd trust her with my life." Ash looked at him in surprise, speechless at the powerful and genuine statement he'd given.

Ikora regarded him with disapproving eyes and responded, "Good, because if you're wrong, you may very well pay with just that." She waved her arm at the exit. "Now if you don't mind, we must start building defenses for the City." Not saying anything, the three Guardians exited the chambers of the Vanguard.

* * *

\- 2 Weeks Later -

* * *

Ash walked by herself through the twilight glow of the Tower's courtyard. It was very late, away from the prying eyes of other Guardians and Vendors. She'd come to a decision about what to do, and no one was going to stop her from carrying out her plan tonight.

After word had leaked out about what she used to be- rather, _who_ she used to be- the Tower's occupants had split into two sides over how to react. One, the more frequent and popular opinion, shared Ikora's judgment, and believed that Ash was a potential threat to everyone. They shunned her, treated her with contempt, and she'd heard on more than one occasion plots to rid themselves of her. The fact that plans had already progressed to such an extent chilled her to her core.

The other side was very minor in numbers, and believed what Matt and Cayde had to say. They were under the belief that Ash was a completely different person from the Warrior, and should be treated as such. Failing her being a different person, they upheld that she at least had no memory of what she had ever done, and should be given leniency considering her actions in assisting with the destruction of the Black Garden, and various missions in the ultimate goal of saving the Traveler.

All that was going to end. Ash wasn't going to burden Matt or Aria with having to be associated with her anymore. They insisted that they would stick by her, and that she was family to them, regardless of what anyone else thought. She believed them, but she hated having her misfortune placed upon them as well, and she simply could not have that on her conscience anymore. Not only that, but she'd already told Matt; she couldn't be with them anymore. Even if everything turned out alright, what if the Warrior came back into control? Would she forget all about the bond between her, Aria, and Matt? Would she kill them without hesitation.

She reached her destination; the railing of the Tower. With two hands, she steadily raised herself over the bar and stood on the outer ledge, her only safety line being the railing that she still gripped with her hands. If she was such a large threat, then she couldn't risk her past persona rising up and endangering anyone else. She needed to end any chance of that, and the only way to do that was to end herself. She reasoned that the impact against the ground from this height would likely last less than half a second, and would completely obliterate her before she even registered any pain.

She prepared to let go, but before she could gather the courage, several thoughts crossed her mind. One stuck out above the rest;

Matt.

What would Matt think, finding her crumpled and crushed body at the foot of the tower? Would he live with her death the same way he lived with Sara? That was the thought that shook her to her core, wondering if she was simply repeating the same thing that Sara had done; gaining Matt's friendship, and then leaving him and the world behind.

She thought back to that night when they'd taken a stroll in the dead of night around the city. They'd bonded, laughed. She never felt happier than when she was with him, and who was to say that he didn't feel the same way? After all, that's what best friends were for; they didn't abandon one another. Granted, Sara hadn't had a choice; but Ash did.

Sighing, she stepped back from the ledge, and climbed back over the railing into the safety of the courtyard. She should get back to her room before Whip woke up and started freaking out about where she was-

"Why'd you change your mind? I think you had your decision right the first time."

She looked up to see three Guardians standing before her, strangers to her. Two Hunters and a Titan, all wearing their gear. Evidently, they'd planned for this. They glared at her as she stopped moving, trying to avoid any confrontation.

"I don't want any trouble," she began, holding her hands up to show she meant no harm.

"If you didn't want any trouble, you would have thrown yourself off for all those murders you committed a couple of decades ago." The leader, the Titans, cracked his knuckles. "I almost had a shred of respect for what you were doing, but it looks like we'll have to force you to see reason and give you a little nudge in the right direction."

She raised her fists just in time to block the fist that he'd thrown in her direction. She moved his arm aside, and returned a punch of her own, slamming her hand into his helmet. He took a step back reeling, but a Hunter came to take his place and tackled her to the ground. She tried to resist, but her arms were pinned at her sides. She tried to yell, but the other Hunter brought his hand down on her face, nearly knocking her unconscious and effectively silencing her. She tried to say anything, but only a statical sounding groan escaped her mouth.

"Can't have you calling for help now, can we?" She tried to think clearly and focus, but the more she tried to, the more her thoughts just swam in and out of her currently weak mind, incapacitating her from defending herself. She felt the Titan and a Hunter begin to lift her, and drag her over to the edge. She gave a pathetic kick, trying to fight to the end. She heard a snicker.

Suddenly, the Hunter was grabbed from behind and thrown backwards. The Titan only took a moment to look and see the new threat before a fist slammed into his face once more. Again, he stepped away from Ash, clutching at the front of his helmet and staggering backwards from the trauma. She was dropped, and fell to the ground. She looked up with somewhat blurry vision before her eyes focused on her savior.

Matt stood dressed in his own gear. It was the first time she'd seen him wear it since the Black Garden, he'd spent most of their time back in the infirmary, healing.

The Titan had taken off his helmet to reach his face, and now looked at Matt. It was a human, and he looked quit angry at having been hit in the face twice. He had short buzzed hair, which gave a particularly soldier look about him. "It's you. Look, I don't have any hard feelings against you for that, since I understand that you managed to bond with this monster. Step away now, and we'll even go get a drink once we've dealt with this."

Ash looked at Matt's face, hidden from view by the visor of his helmet. "No. Don't you dare even think about laying a finger on her." She felt grateful, but also ashamed; that Matt had once again come to her aid despite how distantly she'd been treating him lately. Even now, he was still her best friend- but she couldn't say that she'd been doing the same.

The Titan balled up his fists, and said, "Alright then. First you, then we finish the monster."

An arm reached around Matt's throat from behind as one of the Hunters attempted to choke him out in a headlock. "Don't hurt him!" chided the Titan to his accomplices. "He doesn't deserve that, he fights for the Traveler. Only she needs to go." Matt continued to battle the Hunter by jumping onto his back, crushing the air out of his attacker's lungs. He rolled over as they gasped for breath, and slammed his hand into their abdomen, driving all his force directly into their solar plexus, effectively taking them out of the fight.

He then rose up to meet the hand of the other Hunter with a block of his own. Pulling their arm over his shoulder into a vulnerable position, he brought it down and snapped it via hyperextension. The Hunter screamed, and Matt shut him up by delivering a powerful punch to his face. With the second Hunter incapacitated, all that was left was the Titan.

"You can't hold out against me, you know that. You're already weakened from your injuries, and we both know that I'm stronger," reasoned the Titan, still trying to spare Matt a fight. It was true, the Titan was just naturally bigger and stronger than him. But Matt wasn't giving up, and he shook his head.

"That may be, but it doesn't take all my strength to drive a knife through you." He pulled his signature blade from its sheath at his side, and held it up for the Titan to see; wickedly sharp, and nearly a foot long.

The Titan hesitated. "You would honestly risk your life, even take the life of another Guardian, just to protect her?" he asked, gesturing to Ash. He seemed shocked that Matt would betray other Guardians rather than helping them kill Ash.

"Absolutely," Matt responded, "and I still have the chance unless you back off now."

The Titan remained paused only for a moment longer before he moved to gather his friends off the floor, and they walked away towards the infirmary, with one of the Hunters still whimpering from his snapped arm. Matt waited until they were out of sight to collapse on the ground, drawing in breath rapidly. Ash noticed him clutch his rib cage in pain, and he laid down on the ground in a prone position.

"You're not healed yet?" she asked incredulously, her mind starting to make since again.

He shook his head vigorously. "Injuries were… just a bit… severe… if you'll recall…" he mumbled between breaths. She laid down next to him as he shook quietly. She met his gaze as his helmet turned to look at her. The visor did not depolarize, which meant he was actively keeping her from seeing his face.

Her lower lip trembled. "Why would you do something so- so stupid?" She reached out a hand and grabbed his emphatically. "I'm not worth this!"

He took a moment before responding in his broken syntax, interrupted constantly by his labored breathing. "Yes… you absolutely… are…" he muttered. "Best friends… don't abandon… each other… and… I'm not giving… up on you…" His words were both swords and shields; warming her heart with the consolation that he still cared deeply for her despite her distant attitude, and saddening her because she knew now just how much that same distance was hurting him.

"C'mon." She stood up, gripped under his arms, and dragged him back towards his room in the infirmary. A healer came and took him from her as she turned and left Matt to be taken care of. The next few minutes passed in a blur as she thought about what had just taken place. He'd just risked himself for her again, and at what cost? Now it might take him even longer to heal than the original estimate.

She may have decided against killing herself, but that didn't mean she was out of other options.

-X-

The Speaker opened the the door to his inner quarters before Ash could even knock on the door. She'd walked down to his observatory-like area of the Tower, and ascended the staircase to his study, which was next to the entrance of his personal room. She stepped back in surprise for a moment. "How did you-?"

"Please, my dear Ash. I could sense your arrival for some time, the conflicting emotions and warring sides of light within you shone bright like a beacon as you approached."

She decided to ignore his techno-babble, and get straight to the point; "I need to leave."

"Leave?" asked the Speaker. He didn't sound surprised, almost as if he'd been expecting this. "And why might that be?" She sighed deeply. He gestured towards his room. "Please, come inside before we discuss this further." She obliged and entered, the Speaker closing the door behind her. She sat down on a nearby armchair, and he drew another one in position close to hers, taking residence on its cushion.

"Now," he began, "what has brought about this rash line of thinking?" She began to explain, and she told him about her feelings of guilt, the shame she felt, how everyone else now treated her like scum except for a select few, and how she endangered those close to her as long as she was around. She revealed her almost successful suicide attempt, the three Guardians who had assaulted her, and Matt's bravery in defending her, dealing even more damage to himself. The Speaker nodded thoughtfully.

"If life was advertised as difficult, I hardly think most of us would accept its gift. However, here we are with the truth of it, forced to deal with consequences and tragedies that many times, are outside our control." He tilted his head slightly, giving his masked face a thoughtful expression. "It seems that you happen to be dealing with such a situation right now."

She hung her head. "All I want is to leave, to let Matt and Aria lead normal lives that aren't associated with me and the monster I am." The Speaker leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"What makes you think that you are a monster? The harsh words of others? You have as little knowledge of your past self as we do, perhaps even less so because you weren't even aware of her existence. Who knows? Perhaps, like the Assassin, you were contemplating leaving the Darkness behind?"

He leaned back in his chair. "Remember, your Ghost managed to revive you from the light within your soul. Perhaps there was more good in the Warrior than anyone, even she suspected. Or maybe the Traveler itself infused her with that light because it knew that it had great plans for her. Whatever the case, that light was you, Ash. And without the Darkness of her heart holding you back, your light was able to shine freely without restraint."

Ash sat stunned, having never considered that possibility before. The Speaker patted her shoulder, and stood up. "If you insist on leaving, I will not stop you, but I would highly encourage you to seek strength among friends, and support from those willing to give it to you. Time will allow these old wounds to pass."

* * *

\- Present Day -

* * *

Matt turned at the sound of footsteps dragging him out of his flashback. Walking toward him was Ash, dressed in her undersuit. He himself wore his own black suit underneath some regular clothing which consisted of a jacket and jeans. "You ready for this?" he asked her.

"Are we sure it's her?" asked Ash tentatively.

Matt nodded. "Holliday gave confirmation once her ship had docked. Aria's with her now, keeping her in the hangar. It's time for you to get some answers."

The Stranger had come to visit.

-X-

"I'm telling you," said the Hunter-dressed Exo, "I must speak with Ash and her companions. It is of the utmost-"

Amanda Holliday continued to keep her at bay with her arms crossed across her chest. "Look, I don't recognize you. Maybe you're telling the truth, I don't know. One of them already knows you're here, but until I get confirmation that you're not a threat, you won't be speaking to anyone-"

"Don't worry Amanda," said Ash, coming up from behind the Ship quartermaster. "We've got this one." Holliday was one of the few people who supported Ash and believed she had truly become a new person, separate from the Warrior.

"Alright, but this is your call if things go south." The mechanic walked around Ash and stood behind the three Guardians, as Aria had joined Matt and Ash as soon as she'd seen them enter the hangar. The Vanguards had been notified, and though they were very anxious, they had agreed to halt from blowing the Assassin out of the sky, giving one chance for her to prove herself loyal to the Traveler.

"Thank you. There is little time to explain-" began the Assassin, but Ash cut her off.

"Little time? Well, you could have at least explained who _the Warrior_ was, who _I_ was, _Assassin_." The other Exo's face looked like she'd just been slapped.

"So," she started cautiously, "you found out. Look, I don't need to explain my actions-"

"Oh, but I think you do." This time, the quip came from Matt. "You've caused a lot of issues here, when you never bothered to tell Ash her past, only for her to discover it from the mouth of the Messenger himself."

The Assassin regarded Ash with sympathy. "I assume the information must have felt like fruit from a poisoned tree."

"You think?" snapped Assassin lowered her head.

"Look, Assassin, don't act like-"

She snapped her head back towards Matt. "Do not call me by that name again. I have not responded to that for… well, a long time. I am not the person I once was." He rolled his eyes. "Okay then, 'stranger', I mean don't act sympathetic unless you're willing to help out a bit here and explain your actions."

She took a deep breath, and faced Ash. "I did not tell you about your history because I saw how happy you were. Even as a fighter for the Darkness, I had loved both you and the Messenger as family. Seeing as the Darkness knows not of love, I began to question myself, and my feelings. Under discreet conditions, I studied humans. I observed them, learning of how emotionally bonded to one another they could become. It reminded me of my own bonds with you and him, and I realized that the Darkness knew no such bonds. Had it wished it, the Darkness would have ordered me to kill you without even knowing of the pain it would have caused. I chose to leave, rather than let myself fall into a dark spiral. When I saw you again after so many years, I had hoped that you, despite having lost your memory, had found your true calling, helping the Traveler and finding a new family, one that cared about you more deeply than the Darkness ever could."

She finished with an air of finality, and none of the Guardians said anything in response. Then she looked at Matt and Ash. "I also know that you managed to find love in your friends, their friendship a beacon of hope to you. It warmed my heart to see you so full of joy and life." The three of them turned to face one another, pain behind their eyes at Ash's earlier decision to separate herself from them, but also memories of happiness, of cherished times together.

"But that's not why I'm here today." She once again donned an expression of seriousness as they Guardians faced her, confused. "I came to warn you. Even with the Black Garden gone, the Darkness has begun making moves, actions that suggest it will move against the Traveler and the City. Soon."

"How soon?" asked Matt.

She grimaced. "Soon enough. I first detected the signs nearly a month ago, and I seemed to have been confirmed when I began tracking different armies' comms. As soon as I realized how close their arrival was, I traveled here to bring the news."

"So, how close is their arrival?" asked Aria, crossing her arms.

A light began winking on Amanda's wrist interface. She brought it up to her eyes so she could look at it. She appeared confused for a moment. "What? But there aren't supposed to be…" Then her eyes widened, and a moment later, an alarm sounded.

"What's going on?" exclaimed Ash in concern. Amanda faced her. "I use this to pick up readings of ships entering the atmosphere, so that the hangar is ready when they dock! And I just got a huge reading, the size of an armada."

The Guardians turned to face the Stranger. "That soon," she finished with a grim expression.

"We need to get geared up now!" yelled Matt, and the trio ran toward the exit of the hangar, followed by the Stranger and Holliday as each of their Ghosts began to transmit their armor onto them. As they left the hallway that led to the courtyard, they looked up at the sky in horror to see a combination of Fallen, Hive, and Cabal ships. They slowly descended into the atmosphere with menace in their approach.

The Vanguards too had rushed out at the sound of the Alarm. Shaxx's gaze led towards the clouds, slightly groaning at the sight of the army. Ikora's mouth was set in a thin line, thinking of ways to win. Zavala and Cayde both seemed to have a stance of battle ready, though the fight was far out of their reach. Guardians of all classes stood in awe, realizing that all their efforts in saving the Traveler had led to this moment. Then Aria noticed something.

"Wait, there's Cabal, Fallen, and Hive ships up there. But the Vex teleport, don't they? So where-" She didn't finish the sentence as several blueish white lights appeared in the center of the courtyard, and began producing clouds of smoke.

"Vex!" yelled Shaxx, and he quickly unstrapped a hand cannon at his side and aimed. The other Vanguards followed suit, as Cayde drew out an auto rifle, and Ikora pulled out a pulse rifle. Zavala only raised his fists, as they were all he needed. Goblins began materializing a moment later, and as quickly as they came, they were shot down. Guardians had come out of their shock, and began opening fire in earnest, fighting to defend their home.

Matt, Ash, and Aria, now fully dressed in their gear, joined the fray, tossing in grenades and firing at the mono-eyed robots wherever they spotted them. The Stranger helped as well, wielding a yellow pulse rifle that had a futuristic look to it, and glowed with sparks of electricity near the barrel. Waves of Vex fell, but they only appeared to keep coming.

Matt wondered why no real resistance came from the Vex until a dark shadow loomed over the courtyard. Turning around, he saw a Cabal ship growing larger as it neared the top of the Tower, and began charging up a large energy cannon on its front. Matt barely had time to yell, "GET DOWN!" before he pulled his teammates to the ground as the turret released and an immense explosion blossomed in the middle of the courtyard. The sound rebounded off of the walls, and glass windows shattered nearly everywhere from the shockwave.

It was a few moments before Matt realized that the sounds of gunfire had been replaced with silence. He slowly lifted his head up to look at the destruction, as did Ash and Aria. The center of the courtyard was a blackened, smoking crater. Fires had sprung up on anything flammable. Bodies of Guardians lay in heaps as they'd been thrown from the epicenter, some of which had actually been blown apart he realized, as he spied the severed arm of a Guardian that looked to have belonged to a Hunter. Other Guardians that had been far away enough from the explosion began standing up, shaking their heads to clear out the ringing in their ears.

Zavala and the other Vanguards stood protected within a Ward of Dawn, weapons still at the ready. Ash turned to see the Stranger tending to Amanda, who now was missing the lower portion of her leg due to a flying piece of debris that had cleaved it off. The Shipwright just sat there staring at the stump as the Stranger tied a tourniquet with a ribbon of fabric that she'd torn off from her cloak. Ash looked around to see other Guardians in the same situation, bleeding from spots in their armor where serious shrapnel had punctured through.

The noise of a transmat sounded, and Ash turned to see the Messenger materialize in the middle of the Crater, flanked by two Cabal legionaries. He turned to gaze at the level of damage he'd caused, and his sight froze on Ash. His metallic face broke into a grin, and then a snarl as he realized the presence of the Stranger behind her.

"So, the traitor joins us! All three of the Darkness's soldiers together again!" he called, in a taunting tone. The Stranger left Holliday near the railing as the Shipwright grimaced from the pain and focused on not passing out.

"I am no soldier of the Darkness," she began saying, her voice full of rage. "I would never allow myself to create such pain as you have inflicted here!"

The Messenger laughed. "Oh that's right, you already had your fair share of events worse than this a few decades ago. Finally had enough Guardian slaying? Developed a sense of morality?" His expression turned dark, knowing. "You can't run away from your past as well as you think you have. It will forever stain your soul, just as much as mine."

The words evidently stung on the Stranger's face, but she replied, "Maybe so." The she turned to Ash. "But at least I know that one of our souls will never again be tainted by the Darkness."

The Messenger growled. "She doesn't know what she's doing! If she had her memory, she'd see that what I'm doing was for us, for the good of all three of us! We were tired of being treated like garbage and slaves, the Darkness gave us a chance to turn that around!" He faced Ash, his eyes full of pleading. "I give you one last chance, reconsider which side you're fighting on! You don't belong with these blind sheep of the light, you are kin to the Darkness!"

He pulled out something from his pocket, and held it up so she could see it. It almost looked like a gem, and it was black, though it glowed with a slightly green aura around it."This is a data crystal I've been given from the Darkness itself, containing memories of who you used to be, who you will always be! Take it!" He then tossed it to her in an upward arc, and time itself seemed to stop as it flew forward, everyone's gaze following its path. After an eternity, it landed in Ash's open hand who had reached out due to instinct, and she began to absorb the contents.

Memories immediately flowed into her from the crystal, not showing her the past as though from a second perspective, but literally _forcing_ her to remember who she'd been. She remembered who she was as the Warrior, all of her years working alongside the Messenger and the Assassin. She felt the throat of a human crush between her fingers as her iron grip squeezed the life from them. She remembered all the lives she'd destroyed, killing Guardians in rampages and mercilessly annihilating- no, not quite mercilessly. She recalled different thoughts as well, thoughts that were dangerously close to mutiny.

She had wondered what all the fighting was for, if revenge was truly worth it. With every death that weighed upon her soul, she felt herself filling up with more and more regret over her actions. A few times, she'd allowed Guardians to get away, sparing them from the usually gruesome fates she'd had in store for them. She'd volunteered to take down the rumored uprising alone, secretly hoping to defect like the Assassin had, and possibly bring over the Messenger once she'd established a secure position. Unfortunately, it had all been a trap, and she'd fought nearly all of them to death before realizing that perhaps she deserved this, that this was her penance coming back at long last for all the wrong she'd done, and she'd allowed them to destroy her.

This all came in an instant, and she now knew who she was; she was the Warrior, defender of the Darkness, and slayer of Guardians. She was no longer Ash. But she didn't much care for how her life had turned out, and realized that Ash was a much better person to be than the Warrior could ever hope to dream. But as long as she, the Warrior existed, Ash could never come back to consciousness.

The Messenger looked at her with anticipation. "Well? Do you remember?" She returned his gaze, and nodded. "I knew it! I knew you would come back!" he yelled gleefully. His shoulders eased up from the tension that had been weighing on them. The Warrior turned behind her to see Ash's friends, Aria and Matt. Their mouths were frozen in an unbelieving expression of pain and loss, as Ash had finally disappeared.

Aria and... _Matt_? The Warrior looked at him with an expression of shock on her face. _Her_ Matt?! How was he here?! He wasn't supposed to be... she hadn't seen him since...

 _No_... she realized. He wouldn't recognize her, not with how she was now... he only saw the Warrior, or Ash- not who she used to be... and she couldn't tell him either. Not without jeopardizing everything.

They'd both been awoken after centuries of being dead to fight a war that wasn't theirs. But they'd been risen by different sides; sides that couldn't coexist with one another. After everything they'd been through, their future depended on the choices she had in her hands right now. Did she choose her life, or his?

She almost laughed. Didn't she wish that all answers were as simple as that one.

The Messenger motioned to her. "Come, there isn't much time-"

She held up a hand to silence him. "I indeed remember who I am. Ash is no more, for as long as I and my memories remain in control. I also remember you, and all the years of work to the Darkness we carried out, dealing pain and destruction to everyone we came across." The smile began to fade from the Messenger's face.

She glared at him. "I can see now that there is no changing you, your heart is too full of evil to ever be converted. But Ash's isn't."

The Warrior felt every pair of eyes in the courtyard land on her, not believing their ears. "These people have shown more care for me than I could ever hope to repay, except with one action."

The Messenger's eyes widened. "Don't-!"

With her decision made, she crushed the black crystal in her hand, green gas escaping from it. As it disintegrated, the Warrior felt herself begin to die, and her memories fading.

Was it worth it? Was her death worth it? She shook aside the silly question; of course it was. Even just the minor act of seeing _him,_ of knowing _he_ was alive was worth it.

He may not know it, and he may never know of it, but he was what made all the difference; if someone like him were on the side of the light, then it was no question that the light had to be the good side in this war. She couldn't join it, but she could help ensure that it would survive.

Her final thought almost made her laugh; that she was sacrificing her life for herself, but not herself. That Ash would carry on instead of her, and hopefully be the person that the Warrior wished she'd always been able to be...

Her body shook as the Warrior's personality and consciousness left her body violently, and then ceased. When she looked back up, her eyes were the electric blue eyes of Ash, the Guardian. She did not remember her past any longer, nor did she know of the internal struggle that the Warrior had faced only moments before; she was completely oblivious to what had caused the Warrior to sacrifice herself for Ash.

All she knew was that she no longer desired to know of her lost memories; if the Warrior- if _she_ had decided that they weren't worth it, then who was she to argue?

She raised her hand in a rallying cry yelling, "For the Traveler!"

A hundred voices echoed hers, and the many Guardians in the courtyard rushed into the center, jolted out of their motionless state of awe, charging the Messenger and the Cabal legionaries. The Cabal went down easily under all the gunfire, but the Messenger managed to fire off a few rounds of his Thorn, impaling a Titan and Warlock. As they fell, others moved to fill the gaps and he saw that this wasn't a fight he could win. Without another word, he transmatted out of the Tower's courtyard, leaving behind nothing but a blue grid of light.

Guardians began to cheer, and pump their fists in the air. Ash's chest heaved from all the adrenaline within her. She turned to see the Stranger helping Holliday limp across the open space, bringing her towards the infirmary like some of the other people who also walked in that direction. She spun around and began to stumble towards the railing so that she could hold onto something. She gripped it, and held herself there for a moment, allowing herself to gain back her strength. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

She looked to see who it was. "Matt? What-" In an instant, he'd gripped her around her waist and pulled her into a hug.

"You came back," he whispered softly, and she could hear the relief in his voice. Unsure of how else to react, she gave into her emotions for once, ignoring her painstaking hours of keeping herself away from him and Aria, and hugged him back tightly.

"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered back, a slight smile on her face. "Like you said; best friends don't abandon each other." She leaned back a bit so that they could see each other face to face. "And I'm not giving up on you." Now he smiled too, and they held one another's gaze like that until they were interrupted by a certain Warlock.

Aria waved her hand from behind them. "Hello?" They both looked at her awkwardly. "I know that it's great we're all back on good terms, but aren't we still in the middle of a war? I don't think that thing's gonna wait for us." She pointed towards the Cabal ship which had still been slowly moving farther away from the Tower, yet continued to face it. Again, Matt saw the cannons on the front charge up, and he realized that there wasn't anyone valuable here to prevent them from firing, the Messenger had already escaped.

It seemed as though as soon as he came to his conclusion, the ship fired two missiles which streaked towards them, and downward. At first, he thought they'd missed, before the missiles impacted and tore through the levels below the courtyard, and immediately the structural support began to collapse. The entire half of the courtyard closest to the railing where the trio of Guardians stood began to angle and crumble away from the other half, sliding towards open air. Matt lost his footing, and reached out to grab something as he, Ash, and Aria began to fall with the debris.

Aria fell over, and began to skid towards the edge of the building. She reached and managed to grab ahold of a section of railing that stuck out. Once she held onto it, her descent stopped, and she watched as two other Guardians flew past her, and sailed off the side towards open air, destined to impact against the ground far below. The thought of falling from this height made her feel faint, and she continued to hold on for dear life.

"Aria! Matt!" coughed Ash, her voice coming from farther above Aria. She glanced up to see the Exo's face poking out behind a large chunk of rock that jutted out of the slope. "I'm here!" called Aria, waiting for Matt's answer. "I'm a bit- busy!" grunted Matt, and it sounded as thought he was below Aria. Still holding onto the railing, she leaned backwards to see where he was. A large metal cable was hooked on the debris, and dangled down into the air. At the end of it was Matt, slightly swinging in the breeze and grasping at his lifeline with all his strength.

"Hold on, I'll get you!" yelled Aria, and she slowly lowered herself by letting her fingers slide down the railing as she crab walked down. She reached the end of possible ground for her to stand on, and she began to raise herself off her feet, extending her hand to grab the cable. She inched, closer, closer… and grabbed it!

She let out a sigh of relief, and used the cable to descend to the next foothold in an almost rock climber fashion. She placed her feet on the side of the building, and held a hand down to Matt, waiting for him to grab it. He began to reach out…

And then the line snapped.


	11. End Game

There was a frozen moment where time itself literally stopped. Aria knew that time was actually passing quite normally, but this one second felt like an eternity. She stared at the ends of the cable which had severed, and could only think that it was by the blandest of deaths that she was going to die; by a rock cutting through the line. And then time sped up, and she felt the terrifying sensation of butterflies in her stomach as free fall grabbed her.

Matt was falling right alongside her, reaching his arms out to grab anything. Nothing came to his aid, and they both fell past any potential chances to rescue themselves. Aria began to level herself into a flat position, anything to slow her descent, and Matt imitated her. He laughed. "I suppose we'll do our best to survive, even until the end, right?" he said, commenting on their desperate attempts to slow themselves. Aria wasn't too worried.

"We'll, I've got my Sunsinger ability. I'll be able to bring myself back, though I'm not sure about you. Echo?" The Ghost popped up beside her, falling just as fast so that he could keep up with her. "You could use your radiance to restore his soul and body to life, yes, though it'd be damn difficult. As a matter of fact, practically all Guardians can be resurrected, assuming that their Ghosts aren't dead, and they aren't beyond repair." Matt turned to him sharply. "What constitutes beyond repair?"

"They don't have enough light within them, or the Ghost can't summon any light to revive them. That's why it's essential that in places like the Hellmouth, you don't die. There isn't any light to summon anywhere around them. Here though, we have the Traveler." Echo looked down. "You might want to brace Matt, you both are about thirty seconds to ground."

Matt followed his gaze, and though the Ghost was right, he was still amazed that they'd managed to fall this long. The Tower had to be quite tall for them to achieve this feat. This was gonna suck, regardless of what happened-

Suddenly, a shadow fell over them, keeping pace with their falling bodies. Aria and Matt glanced upward to see the Javelin flying startlingly fast downwards in a completely vertical position. "Or, you might not have to wait long at all." stated Echo. "Whip, transmit them now!" they heard Ash yell over the comms. Blue light began to shine around them, and in a second more, they were in the Javelin. But they were still falling at the same speed, so it now made sense for Ash to be traveling alongside them. She slowly began to ease up on the speed, causing Aria and Matt to begin floating towards the floor of the ship.

"You need to start pulling up, or we'll crash!" exclaimed Whip. Ash said nothing, as she was now concentrating on both slowing down, and pulling out of the dive. Matt and Aria hit the metal floor, and scrambled to their seats, strapping themselves in. The Javelin continued to arc upward, until they managed to reach a level of ascension instead of descent. Ash breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, so we knocked out our impossible rescue for this mission," she joked. "I don't think we've got anymore in stock, though."

Aria leaned forward and pointed out the viewport. "Look." No longer were they in a humorous mood, as they saw various explosions blossoming across the City. The armada of ships was firing upon their stronghold their home. And Matt didn't much care for it. He brought his wrist interface up to his mouth. "Vanguards, come in. Cayde, you there?" There was a second of static, and then the Exo's voice came through. _"What's up, kid? I thought we saw you and the Warlock go over the side."_ "We did," Matt replied, "but that's not important. The city is being bombarded, I suggest moving Guardians in to defend." A moment's pause, and then Cayde responded, _"I agree. Take your team and start defending the urban district, looks like they're under some heavy fire there. Most of us will head towards the city's center, where the biggest action is."_

"Wait, the biggest action? Where's the center?" asked Matt, dreading the answer. _"Right under the Traveler, why?"_ Matt swore. "They're going to try and take out all of our defenses there! Once they're clear, they'll move and begin to destroy the Traveler from the inside! Get there fast!" He hung up, and then stopped to stare at Aria who had gone pale. "What's up with you?" She looked at him.

"The urban district is where my parents live."

-X-

Fires had sprung up nearly everywhere. The cobblestone paths of the less wealthy district had been destroyed, uprooted and broken apart by missiles and explosions. A great number of people ran in terror, as an even greater number of people simply lay unmoving in the streets, oblivious to the destruction around them. Buildings were in ruin, smoking and crumbling, sometimes trapping individuals within their falling walls.

Mr. Sorentine hurriedly tried to find a weapon of some sort. The Fallen were beginning to scour the streets, searching for survivors, and breaking in homes to clear out those with enough sense not to go outside. His wife only wrapped herself in her own arms, rocking in terror under the dining table. Finally, he grabbed a cleaving knife from the dish rack. As he made his way back to the dining room, he heard the sound of wood splintering, and realized he was out of time.

A Dreg came through the door first, equipped with a shock blade. It spied him standing in the room, and let out a call to its other members. Mr. Sorentine held the knife up in a combat position, ready to defend himself and his wife.

When the Dreg's cohorts did not respond, it turned to see where they had gone, only to receive a burst of flame directly in its face. With its head melted and skull showing, it fell backwards to reveal a Warlock standing there, hand outstretched. They retracted their arm.

"Looks like today is your lucky day, dad." He squinted at them, recognizing the voice. "Aria?" She nodded. "The one and only. Hurry and grab mom, we're evacuating this district!"

Dragging his wife out from underneath the table, he carried her over one shoulder and followed his daughter out the door and into the streets. "What of the bombers?!" he cried. She turned slightly as she ran. "Don't worry about them, just keep moving! I've got a friend keeping them busy!" Indeed as she said that, he noticed a black ship attacking some of the Fallen's larger vessels, and evading their attempts to destroy it. She waved her arms at other people nearby, yelling, "Evacuation this way! Follow me! I'll lead you to safety!"

They kept running until they reached the main road, not made of cobblestone but rather a paved, grey metal that made up the structure of most streets connected with the wealthier parts of the city. He watched a Hunter join up with Aria, a group of near twenty civilians following behind him, slightly larger than the gathering that Aria had accumulated. "Alright, this is about all I could round up of the survivors. You?" She gestured a thumb at the group behind her. The Hunter faced everyone.

"Alright, we're doing our best to repel the invasion! While we do so, we need you to head for the Tower, and remain near the base for cover! You will be taken care of!" Mr. Sorentine knew his daughter had important business to attend to, but that couldn't stop him from wishing she would come with him to safety. The most he managed was to grab her hand and say, "Thank you," and then lead his wife towards salvation.

Aria watched her parents disappear. "You alright?" She turned to see Matt watching her, waiting for her to respond. She cleared her throat. "What's next?" He looked around the urban district. "There's not much left here except rubble. We're not doing any good here, we need to join the larger fight in the center of the city, stop the Messenger from destroying the Traveler on the inside." She nodded. He held up his wrist interface and said, "Ash, Aria and I are done here! We need to get to the center, ASAP!" He could hear grunting on her end as she concentrated on avoiding enemy fire. "Alright, just give me a second!"

He looked at Aria. "Looks like we're waiting for a ride."

-X-

Shaxx brought his arms up, aiming at the next Cabal to rise up and over the makeshift defenses they'd constructed. When one did raise its ugly head, he fired and sent a bullet spinning through its grey-matter.

He and the other Vanguards were fighting in the City's center, surrounded by massive numbers of Cabal and Hive. Numerous other Guardians stood with them, fighting until their last breath to beat back the enemy. Many had taken such breaths in the last few minutes, hit by Cabal explosive rounds or sliced to death by Thralls that tore through armor like can openers through tin.

Cayde-6 stood to his left, firing off rounds from his own hand cannon, and cracking sarcastic remarks every once in a while. Shaxx had begun to tune him out, and hadn't the slightest clue of what he was saying. Zavala and Ikora simply fought, hoping to somehow quell this flood of an army, and reduce their numbers until they were manageable. Saladin, who had conveniently been called back to the tower for defensive measures, fought with the many Guardians in the field, issuing out orders. Even the Stranger fought with them, Firing her vibrant yellow pulse rifle in quick succession, often saving the Vanguards from stray enemy shots that they didn't detect.

Anti-air guns that had been stationed around the city long ago to protect humanity from such an attack as this had been activated, and every so often launched a silo of rockets at hostile ships that came too close. It was such a satisfying sight to see a Fallen dropship hurts into flame, its metal carcass spiraling downward until it impacted against the ground.

In place of barricades and proper defenses, they'd dragged broken blocks of the nearby buildings around them in a kind of circle, its diameter around a hundred and fifty yards across. They seemed to block incoming fire fairly decently, and weren't too high to shoot over. Hopefully they'd be able to hold out here for a while longer.

Suddenly, a large Cabal dropship began to enter the scene. The anti-air guns started to train their aim on it, but it had already left by the time that they'd swung around.

"What the hell was that about?" asked Cayde incredulously, refusing to believe that a large Cabal warship had just up and run away.

"They only needed to drop off some cargo," said a voice from behind them.

Shaxx spun around to fire, but the Messenger had already fired off a round of his devastating weapon. Luckily as Shaxx had spun, his aim had been a bit off and the round managed to catch Shaxx in his shoulder plate as opposed to his back. Immediately upon piercing the armor, the munition began to secrete an ooze that immediately dissolved whatever armor it touched. Hastily, he wrenched the plate off and threw it directly in the face of the Messenger. The Warlock ducked, but seemed impressed nonetheless.

"I'm surprised you managed to evade the poison. Mark of the Devourer, they call it. Eats through anything, especially organic material." Without another word, he fired again and this time successfully hit Shaxx in the chest. Indeed, Shaxx began to feel the acidic substance dissolving his skin beneath his armor, and he groaned at the slow and agonizing sting.

As he went down in an attempt to recover, other Guardians began to gather and attempt to defeat the Messenger. With an almost casual style, he let off multiple shots, spearing them with the blade-like ammunition and letting the acid finish off those who did not immediately die. One Hunter tried to tackle the murderer, but the Messenger gripped her by the throat and slammed her into the ground. Putting the thorn directly against the Hunter's helmet, he pulled the trigger and a mixture of plexiglass and squishy grey globules sprayed outward. As her head fell on its side without muscular support, a mixture of acidic liquid and blood began to seep from the hole in the helmet, pooling on the ground next to it, hinting at what grotesque scene lay behind the visor.

The Messenger turned back to finish off Shaxx, but was immediately thwarted by an unexpected punch from Zavala, charged with arc energy. It sent the Messenger flying for a few meters, before he tumbled onto the ground and rolled back into a combat position. He was quick in realigning his aim and began to shoot, but Zavala had already placed a ward of dawn around Shaxx and the other Vanguards by then, and the thorns ricocheted off harmlessly.

The other Guardians around them began to open fire, but the Messenger brought up his hands to begin casting that unique void shield that he was so adept with. Deflecting bullets left and right, he smiled at Zavala within the large purple bubble, both of them knowing it was a matter of time before the light required to sustain the Ward of Dawn ran out, and they were vulnerable once more.

"He's unstoppable!" shouted Ikora, who seemed to be at a loss of what to do. Cayde knelt next to Shaxx, checking to make sure that the Titan was still alive and kicking. Shaxx sat forward a bit, wincing from the pain in his chest. "I'm open to suggestions here."

"If we keep prolonging this fight, we'll be overrun from the Darkness's forces!" Zavala said fiercely. "We must end this, now!"

"Oh, it's a bit too late for that," called the Messenger, grinning as a wolf does when it's about to strike down its prey. "Why not take a look?"

Zavala turned to look at what the Messenger was referring to, and realized they'd been played. Hive Acolytes and Thralls were charging over the makeshift barricades alongside cabal warriors, and were beginning to massacre the other Guardians. Numerous Guardians were torn apart by the Thralls' needle like claws, and those who managed to evade the many swipes of the Hive fodder were taken out by bone-shattering impacts from Cabal Phalanxes, swinging their shields like bats. If the Guardians did not manage to hold these waves of enemies back, they'd be overrun in minutes.

Now that the others were distracted, the Messenger was free to stop waving his void-shields around, and simply began to laugh at the Vanguards within the Ward of Dawn. "You see? All your efforts are futile! What hope do you have to defeat the might of the Darkness?"

The answer came in a fist belonging to Lord Saladin, who had left the defense of the barricades to the other Guardians, and come to the Vanguards' aid. The Messenger spun away from the threat, and readied himself.

Saladin's timely rescue jolted the other Vanguards into action, and they left the safety of the Ward of Dawn to attack. Ikora fired a few void projectiles before she was forced to roll away and avoid being shot. Cayde and Zavala teamed up to lay down suppressing fire so that Shaxx could get up close.

The Crucible handler threw a punch which the Messenger narrowly missed. He reached up to grip the Titan's extended forearm, positioned it over his shoulder, and pulled it downwards, effectively snapping it at the elbow. Shaxx cried out in pain, before the Messenger gripped him by the throat, and threw him at Cayde and Zavala. Both Vanguards were knocked over from the sheer force of the impact, and with Shaxx laying nearby, all three stirred feebly. With a wave of his hand, he used void energy to telekinetically throw Ikora a few meters into the air, and she landed on the ground in a heap, the air having been knocked from her lungs.

The Messenger quickly turned and shot a few rounds at Saladin in quick succession. The Titan dodged all of them, and charged down the Messenger, tackling him to the ground. Once he'd pinned the Warlock, he began raining blows upon his face, repeatedly smashing his fists into the helmet of the Messenger. The Exo swung his right fist in a desperate attempt to dislodge Saladin, and clocked him in the head.

Saladin recoiled, and the Messenger took the opportunity to roll backwards into a crouch. He pulled his knife from his belt, but was buffeted by the Stranger's covering fire which kept the Messenger from advancing. Saladin used the advantage to move forward, and reach around the back of the Messenger's head. Finding a grip, he pulled the Exo's torso downward so that his face met Saladin's rising knee, and the Messenger staggered backwards, reeling. One of his electrical eyes was broken, flickering on and off, and much of the metal in his face was warped. Saladin quickly gripped him by the throat, mirroring the Warlock's action against his former apprentice, and raised him in the air so that his feet could not touch the ground.

"Any final thoughts, scum?" asked the Titan in contempt. The Messenger appeared to ponder for a second before saying, "You've got a big red spot in the middle of your back." And suddenly he vanished in a flash of white light.

Saladin had only a moment to process and recognize the signature sound of a blink before he felt something sharp penetrate the small of his back, right into his spine. "Right about there." The Messenger twisted the knife, and Saladin felt all feeling in his lower body cease. Spinning him around, the Messenger pulled the knife from the Titan's back, and once Saladin was completely facing him, drove the knife directly into Saladin's helmet, resulting in the sound of glad breaking, and an accompanying splatter of blood on the inside of the man's visor.

"No!" yelled the Stranger. She watched Saladin's corpse fall to the ground as the Messenger turned to face her. She brought her rifle up to shoot again, but once more the Warlock blinked, and this time appeared directly in front of her. He hit the barrel of the rifle so that it lost stability and fired off target, then wrenched the gun out of her hands with one of his own, and used his free arm to brutally smack her across the face. She fell to the ground as he threw the pulse rifle far out of reach.

"All your fighting," he spat, "all of your so-called morals…" He stepped close to her, and violently kicked her in the head. "Your betrayal…" He held her up by the throat, and smashed her back into the ground. "All of your efforts, gone and wasted. I can't tell you how long I've waited to even the score between us…" He placed his foot on her abdomen as she groaned in pain, and slowly applied pressure, keeping her on the ground as she feebly struggled. "And how my patience has been rewarded; with the opportunity to personally end you with my own hand!"

He holstered his thorn, and drew his knife instead. She stared at it, her eyes slightly widening as he brought it closer to her face. "You thought your death would be quick, easy?" He chuckled. "I want to savor this moment. I want you to experience all of my hatred for you in the pain this will cause… and when I'm done, I want to see the light leave your eyes!" He brought the blade even closer, and the Stranger just glared at him, refusing to yield. If she was to go out, she was going to go out with dignity.

"Usually, this is the part where I say a corny line to signify my timely rescue, but we're running a bit behind schedule." The Messenger turned towards the voice before he felt bullets pepper him, denting and tearing the metal on his face and body. Matt had his aim trained on him with his hand cannon, firing round after round into the Messenger's form along with Aria and her pulse rifle. Ash grabbed the Stranger's yellow rifle, called out, "Catch!" and tossed it to her on the ground. The hooded Exo caught it, and quickly fired right up into the neck of the Messenger. His hands shot up to his throat in a instinctual move to defend himself, and he quickly threw himself off of the Stranger and conjured up a void shield.

"How-?" stammered the Messenger. "Ash rescued us from our fall." Aria smirked. "While we were defending the city, we figured out what you were up to. It was just a matter of predicting your movements, and deciding you'd probably try to be in on the action." Indeed, the javelin hovered in the air nearly fifty feet above them. Ash clenched her fists in anger. "It's a pity that we might have been a little too late," she snarled, her gaze fixed on Saladin's unmoving form, and the unconscious Vanguards.

The Messenger continued to hold his throat and maintain the shield, unable or unwilling to say anything in response. "What was your plan here?" taunted Matt. "You got overconfident, and thought you could take out everyone singlehandedly? It's over, Messenger."

Suddenly, a noise began emanating from a device on the Messenger's wrist. The relief of tension in the Warlock's body was blatantly visible, and that clued Matt in. The Messenger smiled slightly. "It's not over, not by a long shot." Then he shrugged. "And as for my plan, you're slightly off. Of course, I thought I could take everyone on singlehandedly. Evidently, I was not exactly correct, and I will admit that. But the purpose of my attempt was not to win the battle, but rather to distract you from the group of Servitors that have been stealthily infiltrating the anti-air guns' defenses, and will render them useless in about 3…2…"

He made a swiping movement, and on cue all the anti-air guns stopped firing. Matt looked at the roofs of buildings to see them slowly power down, and enter a standby stage. There was a few seconds of silence in realization of what this meant before the Messenger held up his wrist and said, "Now."

Immediately, the cannons came under fire. Enemy ships bombarded them with missiles. One gun in particular was blown up, and Matt was awestruck by the blossoming explosion that engulfed it. He was less awestruck when a massive fifteen foot long chunk of the cannon began flying towards them. "Get down!" he yelled, and he, Ash, and Aria dove onto the ground as the large piece impacted on the ground next to them. It bounced slightly and flew just over their prone bodies, narrowly avoiding smashing into them. Once Matt judged that it was safe, he looked up and saw a Hive ship coming closer, almost to ground level.

"This is my ride!" yelled the Messenger over the sound of the ship's engines, and with a mock salute, he vanished in the blue light of a transmat. The ship began to move away, and its trajectory seemed to be taking it straight into the underside of the Traveler.

"Shit, c'mon!" exclaimed Matt, and they all stood back up. "What about the Vanguards?" asked Aria. Ash faced the Stranger. "Can you ensure that they remain safe?" She nodded. "That's good enough for me, now bring us back Seraph!" A blue grid surrounded them, and a moment later they were strapping themselves into the seats of the Javelin. "If the Messenger makes it to the center of the Traveler," began Whip, "He won't stop until he's destroyed it. And if the core is destroyed, we could never return its Spark even if we manage to get it back!"

"Then we're not letting him destroy it," growled Ash. "Mark that Hive ship!" A red icon appeared on the view-screen over the ship in question, and Ash grabbed the controls. With no time to waste, she accelerated the ship towards their target.

They watched as the T-shaped vessel slowly ascended into the cracked bottom of the Traveler. As they came closer to the white orb, drops of rain began to fall increasingly, streaking water along the viewports. "Where'd this rain come from?" muttered Aria. Echo appeared. "Well, controlling the weather and climate was one of the basic abilities the Traveler has, quite simple really. I suppose that since it's under attack, its systems are activating based on protocol. It's almost like a reflex, if that makes sense. Its not truly thinking about making it rain, it's just doing it."

Ash paid the conversation no mind as she watched the ship completely disappear from view as it entered the Traveler. She accelerated even more, and began to curve in an upward arc as they prepared to follow it in. They passed the outer shell, and sped through the cracks and crevices, attempting to breach the interior. Finally they accomplished their goal, and they all drew in their breath at the sight before them.

The inside of the Traveler was massive, and stretched for what appeared to be between one hundred, to maybe one hundred and fifty miles. Lining the interior and following the curvature of the spherical structure was a labyrinth of structures, some seemingly made to be living areas such as city-like buildings, and others seemingly meaningless passages that created the appearance of a maze. These structures continued all around the Traveler until they reached two different points at opposite sides; two towers that stretched high above the other structures, and emitted whitish blue beams from their tops.

"Warning, I'm detecting an anomaly in gravity here," said Whip, "rather than being pulled down towards the Earth and ground, we're now being affected by the Traveler itself, and it's tugging on us towards the closest wall in an outward direction." Ash snapped, "English please?" The Ghost looked at her. "Basically, if we were to land on the interior here, you could walk all the way around it, like walking up the inside wall of a fishbowl."

Both beams shot towards the center of the Traveler; there, through some form of physics unknown to Matt, the streams held in place a ring-like platform that rotated around a smaller sphere hovering in approximately the midpoint of the Traveler. The sphere was of a transparent material, and as they continued to fly closer, he brought his hand up. "Seraph, bring up an image of that sphere there." The Ghost complied, and on the viewport appeared a magnified image of the structure. Matt now saw it wasn't a sphere, but actually a dodecahedron, and within it was a cylindrical glass chamber that appeared to be empty. "That's where the Spark must reside," he muttered, "but without it, the Traveler can't recover. And without the core, the Spark can't be replaced."

This was here the enemy vessel appeared to be heading. Warning lights flashed on the console, and Ash began to manipulate different levers and controls. "We're being targeted by their turrets!" she called out. Sure enough, slivers of void energy began hitting the Javelin as their turrets fired upon them. Ash squeezed the trigger on her control stick, and the Javelin responded by launching several missiles in retaliation. The trio watched the projectiles track the Hive ship, and maneuver around the void ammunition in the air. They waited with bated breath.

Finally, a series of flower shaped explosions appeared along the side of the ship, and smoke and fire billowed from it. They cheered. "Alright, we got 'em!" whooped Matt. "All we need to do is follow them, and finish the job-"

A stray set of void energy burned through their right wing as the Hive ship had continued firing as it descended. It appeared to be heading towards the leftmost tower. Ash frantically tried to regain control of the ship. "The controls aren't responding, we don't have enough support on our starboard side!" The Javelin began to tilt and turn, following a trajectory that was going to take them towards the rightmost tower, away from the Hive ship and the Messenger.

"Brace for impact!" yelled Ash as the Javelin continued to accelerate towards the tower. "Umm, aren't you forgetting something?" asked Whip nervously. "What?"

"The gravity here pulls towards the wall, remember? So if you're in this position when you crash-"

"Then I'm basically nose-diving into the ground," she finished, her eyes widening. "Shit!" She rotated the control stick, attempting to turn them sideways in relation to the Earth, and flat in relation to their crash point. All the different gravitational points were making Matt nauseous, as he tried to keep track of which way was up and down. Aria didn't appear to be faring much better.

Fortunately, they didn't have to deal with it long as their ship continued to plummet, and finally crashed into the Traveler's side. There was a jolt of pain in Aria's side, and then the blackness swallowed her.


	12. Guardians Never Die

All she heard was an alarm. Repetitive, obnoxious, and making its presence known quite well through its volume. And there was something… something in her-

Aria moved, and felt a flash of pain. Strong, jolting. Her eyes were closed, so she couldn't see what was going on. She took a deep breath, and forced them open.

Wires hung from the ceiling of the Javelin. Debris was littered around the cabin, and the glass of the viewport had shattered. A purple spherical shape surrounded them until it disappeared a second later. As it did, Ash began to stand up from the ground where she'd been laying.

"Oh, God… guys? Guys!" she coughed. "Sound off!"

Aria watched Matt's hand shoot up from behind the back of his chair, and his hoarse voice choke back, "How- how the hell did we survive that?"

"I placed a Ward of Dawn as we crashed," Ash replied. "Sheltered us from most of the debris, I guess." Apparently not all, as the exterior of her armor was covered with scratches and marks, with cracks running along a bit of her visor. Aria supposed that Matt looked the same.

"Aria, you good?" She tried to reply, but again the blinding pain occurred as she breathed in, and it took every effort within her not to scream. Ash glanced over, and her jaw dropped. "Echo! What happened?"

Aria's Ghost appeared at her shoulder, and gave a brief report; "Her vitals are all over the place! That bar must have come loose in the crash, we need to get it out now!" Dreading what they were talking about, Aria looked down.

A long bar of metal was sticking out from her chest, on the right side of her ribs. Purple blood was splattered all along its cylindrical form, leading her to assume it had impaled her from behind. As she saw what was holding her to her chair, she began to feel the pain more, and she groaned as agony began to take her.

"She's losing blood fast, you need to take it out!"

Ash looked at Echo. "That will just make her bleed faster!" Whip then appeared.

"No, he's right. Trust him, Ash." The Titan, clenched her fists, then moved forward to Aria.

"Sorry, but this is gonna hurt quite a bit." She gripped the blood-slicked handle of the metal, positioned herself, and pulled her arm back in as fast a motion as she could muster.

The shard of metal slid out of Aria with a sickening sound of organs and flesh rubbing against each other. Bits of Aria's insides coated the beam, and Aria cried in pain. Her vision was going quite dark, and she could feel her mind buzzing from the loss of blood. She heard Echo say distantly, "Alright, now unbuckle her, and both of you stand next to me!" before she began to take labored breaths, and sleep…

But a warm feeling started to spread over her, and could feel her sense of mind sharpening, growing more acute the longer the feeling stayed. The pain was disappearing too, and she opened her eyes to see Echo emitting white and blue light onto her, nearly blinding. Eventually he stopped, and she took a moment to examine herself, now fully healed.

"What did you do to me?"

Echo looked proud of himself. "Well, I do remember myself telling you and Matt about reviving other Guardians. As long as we're near the Traveler's light, we Ghosts can bring you back from the brink of death safely. I just didn't want that chunk of metal still inside when I revived you." She shook her head. "Why didn't you let me use my Sunsinger ability?" He rotated his segments a bit. "Why waste what light you have right now? As we know, the Traveler's light has been siphoned for quite a while, and with this attack going on, who knows how little light we can summon? I only used some of my reserve to save your life, but your light may still be necessary."

She pondered this a moment, and decided it made sense. She stood up, and looked at her companions. "So, what's the plan?"

Ash scooped up her Scout rifle from the floor of the Javelin, and looked at Matt. He drew his hand cannon in response. "The plan? We're ending this. We're gonna get to the center of the Traveler, and we're gonna kick the Messenger's ass." He looked around the interior of their crashed ship. " _How_ we get there though, that's another story."

Seraph hovered above the Hunter's shoulder. "I think I may have a solution."

-X-

Together, the three Guardians ascended the angled platforms of the tower that they'd crashed nearby. They'd had to navigate for nearly twenty minutes through a small section of the maze-like structures around them, and Matt was thankful that they didn't have anymore of it to walk through. The labyrinth stretched across the entire interior wall of the Traveler. The gravity was, like Whip said, pulling them onto the wall as though it were the ground, and it was somewhat disorienting to see the bottom of the Traveler above and to his left a few hundred miles away.

He reached over to hand a peculiar satchel over to Ash. "Remember what Seraph said, try not to jostle it." She nodded, and walked back down the ramp to the base of the tower, and out of sight. He had faith that she'd do her job well.

Aria turned to him. "Is this really it? Is this the end of it?"

He sighed. "I hope so, Aria. We might not have the Spark yet, but I know that this is our last chance to take out the Messenger and stop the Darkness from destroying the Traveler's core. Whether we succeed or fail, it all ends in these next few hours." He spun around to see Ash making her way back up to them. "Did you set them properly?" She nodded. "Alright then." He faced Seraph. "So, what's this transportation of yours?"

"I detected an anomalous source of energy, much like the Vex's teleportation grid, but deriving from light rather than darkness. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that there's a teleportation network here in the Traveler, and we can use it to warp ourselves there." She nodded toward the Traveler's center. "We better hurry, because I doubt that the Messenger and his army will wait long to see if their tower performs the same function."

He nodded. "Alright then. Can you tap into the network and transmat us there?"

Her signature blue light pulsed a few times, and then she replied, "It's done. Are you ready?"

Ash grabbed his right hand, and gazed at him. "No matter what happens-" He held up his other hand to stop her. "Wait until this is over, then finish that thought, alright?" She hesitated, almost looking as though she wanted to argue, but then nodded. Aria, unsurprisingly, looked geared up and ready to go. She gripped his other hand and looked at the two of them. "What are we waiting for? Let's save the damn world already!"

And with that profound statement, blue light surrounded them, and they vanished.

-X-

The Messenger walked across the ring-like platform. It was quite wide, maybe a few hundred feet or so, and rotated slowly in place around the large dodecahedron that resided in the center of the Traveler. There was a bridge-like structure that protruded from the dodecahedron's entrance, extending towards the ring he stood upon. He smiled at how unbelievably easy it had been to get here, and now the Traveler seemed to practically be welcoming them in for its destruction.

A large number of Hive thralls and acolytes followed behind him, appearing to be somewhat anxious in an area filled with such vast amounts of light. They were not used to its warmth, but rather were accustomed to the cold shadows and decay they normally inhabited. This place was so unlike their home, and simply for the fact that it was different, they had such loathing and hatred for it.

The Messenger turned to face them. "Where are the Witches I requested for this mission?" Several Wizards that wore special garments distinguishing them from others hovered forward until all three of them floated in front of him. "Ah, here you are ladies. Well here's the deal; all we must do is destroy this core, and the Traveler will be silenced forever." He gestured towards the dodecahedron that they continued to rotate around. "As I understand it, you are the Siphon Witches. So long as you initiate the ritual to corrupt the core, it will tear itself apart by the sheer agony of its light fighting against darkness." He nodded approvingly. "So hop to it!"

The Witches maneuvered into a triangle position around the chamber. The Messenger looked at them, and then at the glass chamber which had once housed the Spark of the Traveler. Without it, it was dormant, unknowing of the fate about to befall it. It made him want to laugh. With a slight smile, he began to raise his hand to give the order to start-

"I hope you haven't had too much time to get comfortable, Messenger." His elation began to deflate, and he turned to see three Guardians who'd caused him so much trouble appear on the ring, the last remnants of transmat light fading from around their bodies.

"What does it take to kill you? I'm honestly open to suggestions here," said the Messenger, extending his arms sideways to show his acceptance of ideas.

Matt shrugged. "I'm not actually sure. A lot of people have tried, but it hasn't really panned out for them yet." He drew his hand cannon slowly as the Messenger drew his Thorn.

"Well, perhaps I can change that today," said the Warlock with a snarl. He waved his arm at the Witches. "Start the ritual, I'll deal with them!" Greenish-black mist began to seep from their hands, slowly spreading around the Spark's chamber.

"You two take the Witches out," Matt said to his two companions, "he's mine."

Ash faced him sharply. "Are you sure? We've seen what he's capable of!"

He nodded. "I'm sure. If we take _him_ out together, the Siphon Witches destroy the chamber. If we take _them_ out together, he kills us while we're preoccupied, we can only do so many things at once. We need to split our forces."

Instantly, he brought his weapon up and fired off several shots at the Messenger. The Warlock was unprepared for it, and was hit several times before he brought up his void shields. "Go! Take them out!" yelled Matt, still firing at the Messenger.

"Defend the Witches!" screamed the Messenger, issuing orders to the Hive soldiers which still remained on the ring. Thralls screamed with the chilling agony of their past souls' pain, and rushed towards the Witches in an effort to form living blockades.

Ash and Aria ran around to the right side of the ring, leaving Matt and the Messenger alone. As Thralls charged into them, attempting to dispatch them, Ash would smack them aside. Her Titan force and strength allowed her to shrug off enemies which grappled onto her, to clear a path forward for herself and Aria. Eventually, she'd thrown away enough Thralls and Acolytes for them to have a straight shot at the first Witch. It screamed at them, and with one hand, began to divert some of its energy to attack them.

"Aria, take it out!" yelled Ash, as she defended her friend from Acolytes and Thralls which were swarming around them. Aria fired with all the rounds in her magazine at the Witch. At first, it appeared to have no effect, but finally the shielded body gave way, and the bullets began tearing large holes through its floating form. The Witch gave one last agonized scream as it died before it became silent and disappeared in a flash of black. Ash paused her fire rate to reload, kicking back a Thrall which had come too close. "You ready for number two?" she panted.

Aria nodded. "Let's go!"

The Messenger was no fool, and was quite aware of what Matt was doing. That didn't mean he could stop him, however, and Matt knew it. Keeping him under fire, Matt came closer and closer to his enemy, keeping his hand with the gun firing, and using his free hand to draw his Hunter's blade. The Messenger in turn, protected himself with one hand casting a shield, holstered his Thorn with the other, and pulled his own knife from its sheath.

Matt finally came close enough, and with one quick motion holstered his hand cannon, bringing his knife forward in the same movement. The Messenger was ready, and back-stepped as his void shield disappeared. He threw a punch forward at the Hunter's helmet, and Matt staggered backward, reeling from the momentary loss of coordination. The Messenger took the opportunity to tackle him to the ground. Locked in a death grip, they both fought for control and kept rolling over, swapping positions of top and bottom each time they did so.

Aria sprayed jets of flame outward, burning Thralls where they stood. Their dead skin was quite flammable, and they were engulfed almost instantly wherever her flame ignited them. "Could you hurry up just a bit?!" she called. Ash gave no answer, as she was currently riding on the back of the second Siphon Witch, driving her Arc charged fist into the head of the Witch again and again. Cracks slowly appeared in its helmet, growing larger, larger…

On the last punch, Ash's fist broke through the helmet covering, and crushed in the Witch's skull. With an moaning exhale of breath, the Witch died and dissolved into the air. Only one Witch remained, but the Spark's chamber was slowly dying; as clouds and tendrils of darkness surrounded and ensnared it, it vibrated slightly, as though trying to shake the evil substance loose. Crevasses were forming in the glass-like material that made up its structure as its light fought violently against the corruption of darkness. "Only one more!" yelled Aria, and both she and Ash battered their way through Hive enemies to reach it.

The Messenger ended up on top, and spread his legs to prevent Matt from rolling him over. He took his knife, and with his right hand attempted to drive it straight into Matt's helmet. Matt brought his left arm up, and kept the Messenger's weapon from descending further by blocking his hand with his forearm. With his right hand, he swung at the Messenger and landed a direct hit in his face. One of the Messenger's eyes, already damaged from the fight with Saladin, flew out of its socket and hung from his face, still connected by some kind of cable acting as an optic nerve. On a whim, Matt reached up, gripped the electronic eye, and pulled tightly, wrenching it and its wire source out of its socket completely.

The Messenger moved his hand to his face in pain. "AGGH!" He reeled, and attempted to get a good view of Matt, but now had no depth perception. Matt took the opportunity to throw him off, and now on his feet, began driving his blade into the Messenger wherever he could. The Warlock continued backing up, doing his best to deflect Matt's attacks but not succeeding. Matt was sure that he had won, that this was the end.

Suddenly, the Messenger managed to block one of his strikes. Unable to react in time, Matt had no opportunity to stop the Messenger from taking his knife and driving it straight into Matt's chest, just under his rib cage. It had broken through his armor easily, and pierced his flesh with a biting cold. Indeed, it felt like ice, or cold mercury was spreading from the point of injury, and Matt felt himself drop to his knees in shock. The Messenger knelt there too, gloating in the moment.

"Why don't you feel just how much pain you've caused me these last few weeks?" He twisted the knife a tiny bit, and Matt grimaced, unable to help himself. "That's for destroying the Black Garden. This," he said, twisting the knife a bit further, "is for just being a giant pain in the ass. And this?" he spat, his face full of malice. "This is for taking the Warrior from me!" With that, he gave the knife the largest twist yet, and Matt nearly passed out from the pain, not even able to scream at just how agonizing that movement had been.

"Get the hell away from him!" Turning to see where the voice had come from, the Messenger's head snapped back from the impact of a void projectile hitting him squarely in the face. Ash and Aria were sprinting to them, having seen Matt's predicament. Ash opened up fire with her scout rifle, as did Aria with her pulse rifle. In a brave but not well-thought-out notion, they were attempting to save the Hunter. The Messenger's face screwed up in frustration, and finally his rage at having been thwarted again and again boiled over. He was NOT going to be rejected from victory once more!

"That is ENOUGH!" he shouted, his voice echoing around in the air. He pulled the knife from Matt's chest violently, and then threw it with as much force as he could muster. It caught Aria in the shoulder, and she cried out in pain. He firing stopped as she could no longer hold up the gun, and all that was left was Ash. He would not show mercy this time, would not give her the kindness of survival. He unholstered his Thorn, and shot two rounds into her left leg as she sprinted towards him. She kept running, but the damage was done, and the poison dissolved through her armor, and then through some of the metallic structure of her lower leg.

She stumbled a moment, having been unexpectedly thrown off balance, and the Messenger caught her by the throat as she fell. Not even bothering to waste words on her, he simply turned and threw her into Aria who was trying to tug the knife out of her shoulder. She slammed into her with enough force to throw them both backwards several meters, where they did not rise.

"Today is the day of the Darkness's victory, and to refuse to accept it is a fool's gambit!" He pointed at the last remaining Witch whom Ash and Aria had abandoned. "Continue the ritual! Destroy this haven of light!" Its arms continued to weave in and around each other, casting the dark spell which was silencing the Traveler's for good. Many Thralls and Acolytes still stood on the ring with the Messenger, not even bothering to finish off the Guardians who were so obviously doomed.

Matt groaned slightly, and raised his head to look at where the Messenger stood. He then turned to see Ash and Aria laying nearby, evidently having failed in their rescue attempt. Seraph appeared in front of him. "Hey. Don't move, it's not worth it." Her voice seemed soothing, though sad. "You did your best, that's all that matters now."

He shook his head. "No… it's not…" Suddenly, an idea came to him. Whether it was actually logical or just a creation of his dying, delirious mind, he didn't know.

"Seraph? How much light remains in the Traveler?" She tried to sense it, and shook herself slightly.

"Not enough. That ritual is sucking out even more light, and its reserves are quite low. I doubt someone could even use their abilities at this point."

He grunted. "We'll just have to test that." He motioned to Aria and Ash's prone bodies. "Whip, Echo! Get over here."

The two Ghosts appeared next to Seraph. "What do you have in mind?"

He sucked in a deep breath. "I'm gonna get one shot at this, but I need all three of you channeling your light into me, sustaining me. I only need enough to make sure that he's not going to get up, and then I'm triggering our plan."

Seraph's eye widened. "That plan was a last resort option! It could kill all three of you!" He shook his head.

"Ash and Aria both have jump packs with their armor as a Titan and Warlock. They'll be able to slow their descent, don't worry."

She looked at him with regret. "And what about you?!" He smiled, though she couldn't see it.

"I'll try to save myself this time, I promise. Now are we doing this, or are we going to let the Darkness win?"

There was a moment's pause, and suddenly a white aura surrounded him as the Ghosts gave their light to him, supplying him with strength. Without a second to waste, he stood up, and concentrated. He summoned all the energy he could, and…

The Messenger heard a noise like a flame igniting emit from behind him, and before he could even turn, a golden streak of flame shot out and hit the final Witch. With a scream of pain and shock, she ignited and burned to ash within seconds.

He spun around to see Matt engulfed in flame, having activated his Golden Gun. Fire danced around his body dangerously, licking his limbs and giving him power. The Messenger pointed and yelled, "KILL HIM!" Many Thralls and Acolytes answered the call, but they were obliterated before they had a chance to try. More beams of flame hit them and chained through them, incinerating many with a single shot. Matt tried to hold himself together.

"Golden Gun was never intended to last this long Matt, you're pushing too hard!" He heard the Ghosts' protest, and chose to ignore them. He had to keep going, and he knew that even this wasn't as far as he was still going to push. He held his still burning hand cannon in his right hand, and used his left hand to pick up his blade on the ground. Using the last bit of his strength, he channeled half of the light he had with him, and summoned as much as he could from the Traveler, to initiate his Bladedancer's trance.

"What?" muttered the Messenger, too shocked for words. The left side of Matt's body shone blue, sparking with arc energy as a Bladedancer, but his right side burned orange, full of solar energy as a Gunslinger. The two colors slowly faded and merged, until no color shone except for a brilliant white aura, pure light of the Traveler.

Matt used his speed as a Bladedancer to dash through enemies separating him from the Messenger. He sliced and cut through them, watching as enemies dropped like rocks. He used his Golden Gun to shoot any other enemies he couldn't reach with his knife hand, incinerating them where they stood. The Messenger turned to run, but he had underestimated Matt's speed, and suddenly the Hunter was in front of him. He now felt something he hadn't felt in a long time; true, uninhibited fear.

"Let me show you the pain you've caused others in all your years of existence," said Matt, mocking the Messenger's line to him earlier. He drove his electrified Arc Blade into the chest of the Warlock, and the Messenger cried out in agony.

Matt gave no sign of sympathy and simply said, "And even that is a mercy to what you truly deserve." Without another word, he used his Golden Gun to blast the Messenger, and the seemingly unbeatable soldier of the Darkness ceased to exist as his body burned to ash, dissolving from the exposure of pure light to something so dark.

Matt turned without a second glance to see the rest of the Hive soldiers undeterred by their commander's death, and charging at him in a horde of enemies. In addition to that, more ships were entering the Traveler from below, making their way towards the Spark's chamber. "Matt, we can't-" Suddenly his strength left him, and he fell to the floor. The Ghosts hovered anxiously around him. "There's no light left!" exclaimed Echo. "It's been all used up!"

He waved them away. "Warn… warn Ash and Aria." Understanding at once, Whip and Echo flew back to their Guardians, trying to wake them up before Matt initiated the last resort. Only Seraph stayed with him.

"I don't have… any strength left…" he muttered between gasps of breath as the Hive army swarmed closer. "Have to activate it… to keep… the Hive from damaging it further…"

Seraph bobbed slightly. "I know." She sounded quite sad, understanding what he needed to do, though she wished there was another way.

Whip and Echo flew close to Ash and Aria, yelling at them. "Aria! Ash! We gotta get out of here!"

They stirred, and Ash asked, "What? What are you talking-"

"Matt's going to activate the fail-safe plan!" said Whip hurriedly. "Be prepared!"

She clenched her fists and yelled, "What?! No, wait!"

"I was right about one thing," whispered Seraph.

"What… was that?" he heaved, reaching his hand to his belt to pull out what he was looking for.

"You were a great Guardian, like I said. Maybe even one of the best. You saved the Traveler, and that's what you'll be remembered for, Matt."

He nodded. "That's… not a bad way… to be remembered." Then he flipped open the cap of the remote detonator and pressed the trigger.

The charges which they'd set on the tower, the tower they had landed near that used its beam to help keep the ring which they stood on in place, were activated. With a massive explosion, the tower was obliterated, and its beam ceased to function. With one of its technological supports gone, the ring-platform could no longer sustain its position hovering in the center of the Traveler. With a loud groan of moving metal, the platform began to fall.

Hive soldiers screamed out as the ground was yanked out from under them. The ring continued to fall, and eventually impacted against the additional ships entering the Traveler. Flying debris from both the ring and the ships flew everywhere, causing even more destruction and chaos among the ships. The threat, it appeared, was no more.

Matt fell with the wreckage, just thinking and hoping that Ash and Aria were safe, that they would use common sense and slow their descent as they fell rather than trying to follow him. Flying metal and chunks of rock moved around him as he continued to fall downwards. Seraph used what energy she could to telekinetically slow his descent, but it didn't help much, and he just tried to hold onto any large piece of rock that could potentially shield him from impact.

Though it was probably some time as he fell all those miles to the ground below, it seemed like seconds, as though there wasn't enough time. Not enough time to reflect, to ponder on how good his second life had been, to fully appreciate the lasting relationships he'd made with Ash and Aria. All he wanted to do was to see them again, to tell them how much they meant to him… but as with all things, fate often times has a different plan.

The ground continued to rush up to meet him, Seraph still tried to slow his fall as best she could, and he only closed his eyes in preparation for what was to come.

-X-

Ash and Aria fell together, waiting until absolutely necessary to use their jump packs to slow them. Whip appeared in front of Ash's face, calling out, "Ten seconds to ground! Use it now!"

Heeding his advice, she and Aria both activated their jump packs built into Titan and Warlock armor. Hunters, of course, did not have that luxury, and she dreaded finding what had happened to Matt. The rain that had fallen from before still fell in pounding drops that made loud and audible sounds as it hit their armor. Flames were still visible, unwilling to be put out so easily, giving a grim perspective on the massive level of destruction.

Other Guardians picked their way towards them, namely the Vanguards and others who had fought with them. The Stranger looked around, her eyes wide at all the chaos and wreckage. She stood next to Ikora and Zavala who held Saladin's body over his shoulder. Shaxx walked next to Cayde, cradling his broken arm carefully. Cayde's eyes found them, and he called out, "Hey, where's our fellow Hunter?"

Echo appeared on Aria's shoulder, and spoke; "I'm detecting Seraph's signal over this way." He pointed out a direction by moving towards it, and both Ash and Aria took off sprinting. They sidestepped over rubble, jumping over blocks of rock and trying not to slip in the wet mud that the rain was creating.

Ash was running so fast, and the rain was so loud that she nearly didn't hear Whip tell her, "Stop! This is it!" She looked around with Aria following her lead, only seeing large pieces of debris around, her heart sinking. Whip flew near a specific pile of wreckage, saying, "Here." She quickly jumped into action, grabbing any slabs that she could, and throwing them away to dig. Her efforts only doubled when she saw Matt's hand after removing a particularly large chunk. With a frantic grip, she threw the final piece of debris away, and revealed Matt laying on the ground, having been buried under the rubble. His armor was dented in, and had even been completely destroyed in some places. His visor had shattered, and his face was visible from his helmet.

Seraph materialized, and looked sadly at both Ash and Aria. "His vitals are fading. I tried all I could, but… there's not much I _can_ do…" That was made abundantly clear by the large metal piping that had speared him through his chest as he fell, much like Aria had been, though this looked even messier if that was even possible. His insides were actually visible from just looking casually over him.

Ash shook her head. "No, no there's gotta be something! _Anything!"_ Seraph said nothing. Aria wished the same, but knew what Ash had not yet accepted. The Titan pointed to her, and made a beckoning motion; "C'mon, you can use your radiance or something, we can heal him-"

Aria shook her head sadly. "I don't have anymore light, Matt took it all. Echo told me."

Ash snapped her gaze to Seraph. "His soul is tied to you, right? You can revive him, you can-"

Seraph interrupted her. "I told you, there's nothing I can do! There isn't enough light left in the Traveler to illuminate a closet, much less bring someone to life." She simply turned to stare at Matt's laboredly breathing body, avoiding Ash's gaze. Ash felt all of her hope dying within her as she realized that this time, there just wasn't anything that could be done.

"A-Ash…" She quickly looked to see Matt reaching out for her. She rushed to his side, taking off her helmet, and knelt down on the ground, her arms cradling his head and upper body. "H-hey, I'm h-here…" she responded, her voice stammering from the overwhelming sorrow and despair she felt. Aria sat next to her, staying silent lest she start crying out loud. She could already feel tears running down her face.

"Ash… Aria… I-I'm sorry we didn't have more t-time…" he coughed.

She made a shushing noise, attempting to soother him, and hurriedly gathered what strength she had to say, "Don't worry about that, look at me. You're going to pull through this, alright? You're going…" He was already shaking his head, and it was his knowledge of his own demise coming to meet him that caused Ash's voice to break, and she stopped speaking.

He took a moment before saying, "Wha… what was it t-that you w-wanted to say? Before the r-ring, I mean."

Her face contorted in sadness at what words she hadn't been able to say before, until now as Matt lay dying. With a voice that sounded as though she were truly crying, she whispered; "I… I-I…"

She broke; she couldn't finish her sentence, it'd just be too cruel to the both of them. He nodded, obviously having been expecting that. "I know. Don't w-worry."

She nodded vigorously. "I know, I know you do, I just-" She broke off again, making crying sounds.

He reached his hand up, and she took the moment to grab it, not willing to let any moment with him pass by. "You j-just what?" he inquired, sounding alarmingly calm. She shook her head nonsensically. He smiled weakly. "Hey, w- we won. That's what c- counts, right?"

She looked him in his eyes, refusing to let that comment pass. "No, what counts is you! We need you with us, Matt!" It took all of her effort to not say ' _I need you with me'_.

He shook his head. "I-I'm sorry. Like I said, I w-wish we'd had more t- time." He returned her desperate gaze as his breathing slowed even more, reducing his voice to little more than whispering above the sound of the rain, but Ash held onto every word. Unexpectedly, he smiled.

"I'm g-glad that my second d-death is a lot better t-than my first. I d-didn't have nearly t-this great of a s-sight last time…" he said, as he stared deeply into Ash's face, watching her electric blue eyes stay trained on him. His vision was going black, and he was grateful that the last thing he saw was Ash's face, her beautiful…

Matt gave one last sigh of breath, and finally his fight was over. Seraph looked at Ash, and shook her body slightly. Ash broke down, her shoulders shaking from her sadness, and with the rain pouring down onto her and Matt, drops landed on her face, running down her cheeks and off of her chin. The surrounding Guardians lowered their heads out of respect for the miserable sight before them. Aria herself began to whimper slightly, her feelings of despair refusing to be kept at bay for long.

Ash brought his face close to hers, and held him there as she sobbed, the tears of rain upon her face allowing her to truly weep for the first time, as she mourned the loss of her best friend.


	13. Searching the Sands

The mood of the day was somber, to say the least. A light rain fell, giving testament to the sorrow-filled atmosphere around the large congregation of Guardians.

It had been nearly two weeks since the final battle, two weeks of cleaning up rubble and retrieving the bodies of fallen Guardians, friends, and civilians. Two weeks of learning to accept the reality of the situation, that the Traveler was not in any condition to protect them currently, and that all of the loved ones they'd lost were not coming back.

They stood under the Traveler, occupying the area which had once been the city's center. The most damage had been applied here, with ruined buildings and littered debris lending insight into the tragedy which had occurred so recently. All of the dead had been buried next to the Wall, showing others what they had each died to protect, the city and its people. This gathering was simply so that they could pay their respects to their fallen comrades, and recognize their incredible sacrifices.

A makeshift platform had been dragged into the middle of the large clearing, created by simply moving a large, flat chunk of debris from one of the surrounding broken buildings. The Speaker stood atop it, the crowd of Guardians encircling the podium and listening closely. He addressed the group at large, paying tribute to those fallen;

"These lost Guardians have shown us what we were, what we have always been, and what we will be again." He turned sightly, gazing around at them with approval. "We are now what remains of the light, and we will not be stamped out." A few claps were heard from the crowd, agreeing with the Speaker. "Though we may be fewer in number now, their sacrifices will not go unacknowledged, and we will pay tribute to those taken from us by the Darkness."

Ash and Aria stood next to the platform, having been requested to remain close for a special word to the crowd. Ash thought that the Speaker, though filled with good intentions, couldn't possibly understand how each of the Guardians was truly feeling. He spent all his time away in his study, and didn't know of the bonds which had been torn apart; no fireteam of Guardians had gone without losing someone they'd known, and they each were impacted by every death. The Speaker could make pretty speeches all he liked, but it didn't change the truth.

With the Traveler's light gone, there was no way to bring back anyone who had died. Even if it did have light, most of the casualties had been so thoroughly destroyed by the Darkness's forces that there was no hope of reviving them at all. But for the rest of the ones that had potential to be revived, possibly including Matt, there was no way to do so. Not without light…

"Though each Guardian is just as vital and valuable as the next, there is a particular fire team of Guardians I would like to acknowledge." He turned and held out his hand gesturing to Ash and Aria. "Matt, Ash, and Aria came into our ranks as any other fireteam, inexperienced and eager to prove themselves. We had no idea however, how far they would go in their quest to save the Traveler. Not only did they stop a ritual draining the Traveler's light in the Black Garden," he said, earning gasps from several people in the crowd, "but they returned and warned us of the impending attack, allowing us to spend the next few months preparing for war, building our defenses, and buying ourselves time. Without them, the battle would have been lost."

The Speaker now became slightly quieter, mollified by the information he was having to speak about. "As I understand it, a trio of soldiers was created by the Darkness, soldiers meant to kill Guardians, to destroy the Traveler and its light." The other Guardians had become all too familiar with this story, having been told about Ash months ago. "As of now, only two survive, both of them on our side. The last is dead, taken out by them in a most spectacular fashion."

"These Guardians were not the only ones to challenge the Warlock known as the Messenger; but they did follow him into the body of our broken God, fought off the army of Hive that fought to enact his scheme, and managed to save the Traveler. They were prepared to die for their cause, and it came at great loss to them when one of them lost his life." He stepped back, and beckoned Ash and Aria up onto the block. Ash clambered onto it, and then helped Aria. They walked forward a few feet, and stood there in the gaze of all the remaining Guardians. She looked at Aria, who was slightly shaking her head in a declination of the offer to speak. She turned back to the crowd, and began to speak.

"Aria and I fought to repel the Hive cursing the Spark's chamber. Together, we managed to defeat the Siphon Witches, and prevent the corruption of the core." She paused. "But we couldn't have done it without Matt. He singlehandedly engaged the Messenger in hand to hand combat at great personal risk while Aria and I worked, buying us time to stop the ritual. We came back to help once we had accomplished our task, but we feared it was too late. The Messenger knocked us both aside, and nearly won. But while Aria and I were out of commission, Matt never gave up."

Her voice was slightly shaking, and she fought to keep herself together. "Even though he'd been beaten, he'd been stabbed and nearly killed, he never once gave up. He stood right back up, and continued to fight. He drained the rest of the Traveler's light, infusing it within himself in order to keep a constant super-state, and used it to save the Spark's chamber, and kill the Messenger. Once he had done that…" She stopped for a moment, regaining her composure. "Once he had done that, he triggered a detonator which we had set to blow apart a pylon keeping the platform we stood upon in place. He fell with the debris, and was mortally wounded." She looked from left to right at the crowd, watching their expressions and reactions to what she said.

"Matt was the first Guardian to have been revived from centuries past in nearly a decade. He came from before the Golden Age, sharing knowledge of our history- his history- and became one of the best Guardians around, just as Seraph had predicted." She shook her head.

"But this is not what made him special, what made him unique. Not once did I ever see him surrender. He had this drive, this determination to succeed in whatever he did." She laughed slightly, surprising many of the people present. "He saved my life once, back in the Hellmouth, and I could tell just from the look in his eyes that he hadn't even considered the possibility of allowing me to die. Failure was not a word that he knew, defeat was a foreign concept to him. To the very end, even when he couldn't possibly fight anymore, he still managed to find a way to save the day." She prepared her final statement.

"If there is one thing that his death brings us, it is an example. Let he and the other Guardians, all who died to protect this city, to protect humanity, stand as models for what we should hope to be. Let us see them as heroes for us to hopefully live up to in our actions, that one day we could be half as good as they were." A few cheers rang out, and she finished. "Let us never forget the sacrifice they gave to us! Let us keep them in our hearts, remember their valiant efforts wherever we go, and take their courage with us!"

Applause and cheers sounded from everyone, and Ash smiled that these Guardians, some of whom had been quite reluctant to trust her before, now approved of what she had to say and even praised it. She turned around having nothing left to say, and jumped off the podium with Aria. They walked away from the defining noise of the crowd, and made their way back towards the Tower.

-X-

Aria leaned against a wall, waiting with Ash in the Hall of Guardians. They stood in the dim light patiently, giving an outward appearance of calm. Inside, Aria's mind was racing. What if their request was denied? Obviously they'd still go through with it, but would they be marked as fugitives? Would others stop them? Would they be cast out, exiled like other rumors she'd heard about, Toland the Shattered and Dredgen Yor?

She didn't have long to ponder as the sound of footsteps approaching signaled that it was time to act. Pushing herself off the wall, she joined Ash at the Vanguards table, alerting them with their presence as they walked in.

"Ash? Aria? What are you two doing here?" asked Ikora, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "We have a request, a big one." Aria looked over at Ash and nodded, letting her know to take over. Ash drew in breath, and spoke.

"So far, we've stopped two phases of the Darkness's plan; defeating the Heart of the Black Garden, and repelling the invasion of the city." Zavala nodded. "Yes, we understand that. Go on."

"The last phase of the plan was long ago, when the Spark of the Traveler was stolen from its core. There's a reason that the Traveler does not produce any light, that it remains dormant. It needs the Spark back." Cayde held up his hand to silence her, and she waited. "Hold on, you're not seriously saying what I think you're saying, are you?"

"Yes," she stated firmly, "I am. Without the Spark, we have no light. Without light, we can't perform many of our usual abilities, we can't revive others, and we have no protection against the Darkness." Ikora sighed. "Ash, we understand why you want to do this." Ash clenched her jaw. "While we do sympathize with your situation, we cannot simply allow you to galavant off alone over the death of your friend." "It's not just Matt," she insisted, "It's all the Guardians who died! While we may not be able to save all of them, we sure as hell can save a good portion! But the longer we wait here without the light, the Darkness continues to creep in and take away any chance we have of bringing them back."

Ikora still shook her head. "I'm sorry. But like you said, without the light there's no way to revive ourselves. Your next death will be your last, and you're simply too valuable a soldier to lose to a suicide mission like this. We need you and Aria here with the rest of us. While we may have won this time, we need to be prepared should the Darkness's forces attempt to kick us while we're down."

"That's precisely it! Our next deaths will be our last unless we get that Spark back!" Ikora raised her hand firmly. "The answer is no. Maybe when we're back on our feet and ready for such a mission, it's possible, but a notion like that is years away at best. Don't hate me for trying to protect you and the other Guardians." Ash said nothing this time, but simply began to walk out of the hall, heading back to the courtyard. Aria jogged after her to catch up.

"So," she said once she'd reached Ash, "When do we leave?" The Exo turned to face her with a slight smirk on her face, "Tonight. Have your things ready later." She turned to her shoulder where Whip had materialized, and ordered, "Tell me if anything I should know about pops up." He nodded. "Will do. Also, Cayde-6 is approaching you two from behind."

They turned to see the Hunter Vanguard walking up to them from behind, having ascended the staircase up to the courtyard. "How's it going, you two? I just wanted to talk."

Aria nodded. "Of course, Sir. What can we do for you?" He looked at each of them, measuring them up, and spoke. "Look, I know the face of someone who's going to do something even when they've been told specifically not to." Ash held her gaze level, and said, "I don't know what you're talking ab-"

"Calm down, I'm on your side." This surprised both of them, and left Ash speechless. Aria spoke for her asking, "What? You are?" "Yeah, I am. I agree with you both, right now we're exposed to the Darkness, and we need that Spark back." He shrugged. "Plus, I kinda don't like the idea of leaving our fellow Guardians to rot in the dirt, especially Matt." He nodded at them with a smile. "I'll see to it that the hangar is empty tonight for you two to sneak into." Without another word, he turned around and walked back to the Hall of Guardians.

Ash faced Aria directly. "Well, that's convenient, isn't it?" Then she turned to Seraph who had materialized in front of her. "How about it Seraph? You ready to get your Guardian back?"

The little Ghost bobbed up and down. "You bet your ass I am. I'm not leaving him dead if I can help it!"

Ash nodded. "And his soul is tied to you, right? So as soon as we free the Spark-"

"He can be revived," finished Seraph. "Then let's do this!" said Aria under her breath, ready to put the renewed energy she felt to good use.

-X-

Amanda Holliday yawned, and grabbed her catches. She used them to push herself up onto her remaining foot, and began to close up shop. She was scheduled for a prosthetic leg, but she hadn't received it yet. Until then, she was having to walk around with these awkward crutches, constantly bumping into stuff. She cursed as she hit one against a stray toolbox on her way to switch off the lights.

Cayde had asked her to report to him earlier today, probably something about supplies. Reaching over, she finally succeeded in turning off the lights, and hobbled down the steps towards the exit to the hangars.

As silence settled over the hangar, two shadowy shapes emerged from behind a crate, and dashed towards a ship easily identifiable as the black shape of the Javelin.

As Ash and Aria made their way towards the ship, it began to power up in advance, with Whip inside starting it up early to be ready for them. The docking ramp began to descend, but right before they could enter, a voice sounded from behind them. "And what are you doing?"

Ash turned to see the Stranger staring at them in the darkness, arms crossed over her chest. She held her hand out, showing she meant no trouble. "I'm sorry, but we have to do this. It's the only way to save- to truly save the Traveler and the other Guardians… including Matt."

The Stranger shook her head. "Cayde told me about your plan, figured I'd come along to help. But I'm here for quite the opposite. I've been sitting in this hangar for hours, waiting to see you. I've lost you once already, I'm not prepared to lose you again." Ash narrowed her eyes. "That's pretty close to what the Messenger said, and that didn't turn out too well for him."

The Stranger raised her hands up. "It's not a threat, I'm simply saying that I don't think you grasp how dangerous this is. I wasn't exaggerating when I said it'd be suicide in the Ishtar Academy, and your next death is kind of permanent currently. I know you were close to him, but-"

"We owe it to him to do everything in our power to get him back," responded Ash. "Even you owe him, remember? He saved your life too!" The Stranger said nothing, obviously having been avoiding that particular point of discussion.

Ash beckoned to her. " Why don't you come with us! What better way to monitor our safety then by watching over us? You'd be a great asset to have along the way."

The Stranger seemed nonplussed by the offer. Aria waited with bated breath, wondering what would happen. Then Ash sealed the deal with, "Plus, I'm gonna need more company than just Aria. She never talks about anything other than books and studies, probably that whole Warlock thing, you know?" "Hey!" cried Aria indignantly. The Stranger chuckled.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Suddenly, Echo appeared at Aria's side. "Uh, we may want to go quickly…" "Why?" she asked, "Cayde emptied the hangar for us." "True, but Whip activated the Javelin a bit ago, and event he hangar has alarms for this exact sort of thing…"

"Where are they?!" Aria heard a voice shout, one that sounded suspiciously like Ikora Rey's coming from the entrance to the hangar. "Perhaps he's right, it's time to go!" With haste in their steps, the trio scrambled up the ramp and into the Javelin.

The Vanguards, including Ikora, turned around the corner just in time to see the Javelin rocket out of the hangar, flying upwards into the night sky towards the stars. The Warlock master sighed deeply, muttering, "If you must go young ones, then I wish you luck. It may be the only thing that can save you now."

-X-

The atmosphere of Mercury blew past them as they descended towards the ground. The surface consisted mostly of Vex structures and glittery sand that stretched for miles without an end in sight.

"So, where to?" Ash directed the question at the Stranger. She shrugged. "We may have once been soldiers of the Darkness, but secrets were kept even from us. All I know is that the Spark is kept in a Vex stronghold here on Mercury. How we find it is beyond me."

Ash gave the controls to Whip, and asked the Ghost, "Well, do you have any ideas on how to locate this thing?" There was a moment's pause before he replied, "No, I don't. We lost this world to the Vex, long ago. The last person to visit here was Osiris, a Warlock who hasn't been heard from in many years. Anything we could possibly use to scan around and locate the stronghold is long gone."

A red light winked on the display. "And apparently there's a sandstorm that's plaguing Mercury. With some proper instruments, I could tell you how long it will take to subside, but I just don't know how long this thing could last. In any case, the Javelin isn't going to get much use here if its engines are going to be completely clogged and ruined with grains of sand."

Aria sighed. "So I guess that means we're exploring the entire surface of Mercury on foot." "Well, at least it's the smallest planet, right?" said Ash with a cheerful tone. "What about Pluto?" asked Aria, a grin appearing on her face. Echo appeared, and narrowed his eye at her. "Don't start this again, you debated with me for a week on this before the last discussion ended." Aria smiled. "Is that so? And I thought I only talked about books and studies!"

"You two." The Stranger's serious tone pulled Ash and Aria's gaze towards her. She looked them each in the eyes and said, "I just want to make this clear; it may be a while before we locate the facility. For every moment we tarry, the Darkness continues to corrupt and take away the dead from us. Do you understand?"

One memory fought its way to the surface of Ash's mind; their journey into the Hellmouth, where Matt saved her from falling into the Pit, and where he stopped the ambush waiting to kill them. He'd always been there for her when she needed him, and she was going to be there for him now. "I do. Let's do it."

The Stranger nodded, and the docking ramp began to lower. Harsh gusts of wind blew from the outside, reminding them of the terrible weather conditions they were stuck in. With an air of finality, she walked out with Ash and Aria into the desert-like landscape. The Javelin took off in auto-pilot, and flew up and out of the atmosphere, ready to stand by in orbit until they found what they were looking for.

As Ash followed its trail up into the sky, she held her hand up to block out the now-massive shape of the sun, blinding her and the others with light. She turned her gaze downward to adjust her vision again, and faced the Stranger. "Let's try to find some shelter!" she yelled, fighting to be heard above the roar of the wind and sand.

"Lead the way!" she shouted back. Ash turned towards a series of Vex spires that stood roughly a mile away, deciding that there'd likely be protection from the weather there. Pushing against the wind, she trekked on with Aria and the Stranger behind her, all of them fighting to keep themselves going and to not give into the elements.

After nearly an hour of walking against the wind and nearly losing their sense of direction, they reached the complex of buildings. They were composed of the same block-like rock material that seemed to surround much of their architecture, as well as metal antennas and external structures of which they could not discern the purpose.

Inside the bottom of the structures was a hollowed out cove. Crouching down, they crawled through the small space, continuing to move until it slightly widened out and gave room for them to stand properly. Once each of them was inside, they looked around and checked out the interior. It wasn't very large, maybe nine feet across one way and ten the other. It was around seven to eight feet in height, just enough for them to stand. Aria sat down, her legs tired from straining against the wind and sand. She shook herself slightly, and quite a large amount of grains dislodged themselves from her clothing, forming a small circle of mineral around her. She took off her helmet, and more sand poured out from the next seal and visor.

She shook the helmet, and smiled as she did so. "Reminds me of having to get clean after playing in sandboxes as a kid. The stuff just got everywhere." Ash and the Stranger didn't truly feel worn out yet, but they did test out their joints and motors. Both were reasonably well off, Ash's armor protecting her, and the Stranger's cloak deflecting much of the sand, but even so there were still slightly audible clicks that would happen as they moved around, their metal mechanisms becoming slightly jammed on whatever pieces of sand _had_ managed to worm their way inside.

"This isn't a great long-term strategy," said the Stranger to Ash. "You and I will be out of commission in a few weeks if we stay out longer than a few hours in the storms." Ash looked at her gear, noticing the marks and scratches that the sand pellets had left in her armor. If that was done to her own body, then the Stranger was right; she wouldn't be in working condition for long.

But she wasn't about to give up. "We still keep going. We've faced down larger risks than sand in our boots, I'm sure that we'll find a way." The steel in her voice was tangible, and the Stranger approved of her comrade's determination. Ash made her way over to Aria, and began setting up equipment that Whip was materializing for her, including rolled-up mats, a lamp, and a bag full of supplies that neither of the other two could see.

"Where did you get that stuff?" asked Aria curiously. "I had each of the Ghosts store quite a few materials before we left. I didn't know about the sandstorm, but I knew we'd probably be here for a while, so I took the liberty to prepare." She glanced up at Whip. "Did you by chance happen to grab some rags or cloth?" The Ghost nodded. "Once I detected the sandstorm, I found some stuff in the emergency supplies onboard the Javelin. They should help with the weather some."

Ash nodded, and turned to the other two. She threw them each a mat. "Rest up. I don't want to give up the first shelter we've come across before we've even settled in. After a few hours, we'll get moving again." Each of them began preparing their mat, and settling down to rest despite the roaring noise of the storm outside.

As Ash laid in her cover, she thought about what they'd gotten themselves into. What if while they out here, they ended up losing everyone? The whole operation to rescue Matt would have been for nothing. Whip hovered over next to her, and began to enter stand-by mode. She quickly looked to the side and whispered, "Whip." The Ghost faced her. "Yes?"

"Am I doing the right thing? What if I'm just risking everyone else's lives for one person's? Is that right?" The Ghost seemed to contemplate this for a moment. "I suppose it would be a lie to say that there aren't those that would call this plan highly foolish and irresponsible, putting everyone else in danger for the sake of one person." Ash began to feel downcast. "I would also like to point out that despite it being dangerous, Matt performed the exact same thing several times just to save you and Aria." She looked up again in surprise.

Whip couldn't smile, but she felt as though he would be if it were possible. "I'm not sure if it's a matter of _whether you should_ at this point, but rather _how you can._ " With that, the Ghost's blue light deactivated and turned blank.

Ash thought about this, and realized the Ghost was right. Matt had put himself on the line multiple times for her and Aria, and she needed to live with her decision to do this. Her mind at ease, she began to sleep as the wind howled, and sand blew across the landscape.


	14. A Spark of Hope

\- 3 Months Later -

The tent was quickly and efficiently packed away with the help of the Ghosts. The hooded figures of the three individuals watching them stood upright, their ripped robes and fabric garments blowing in the wind, but protecting them from the harsh bite of sand scraping across the body. The Ghosts finished dematerializing the equipment, and following the routine they'd been following everyday, they turned around and set off to explore more uncharted territory.

The last three months had been a massive nomadic journey. The storm had come and gone with varying levels of strength, but it hadn't ended so far in the entirety of the time they'd been here. Their life consisted of walking in the sand and weather each day, attempting to find the stronghold as well as shelter for the next night, and failing that, a place to set up camp with their tents. It was several hours before anyone even talked since they were so used to the silence of Mercury save for the howling wind of the storm. Ash turned her hooded face towards her shoulder where Whip hovered.

"How long have we been out here, Whip? On Mercury?" The Ghost looked at her as they walked.

"Today is the ninety seventh day of searching, or just over three months. Why?" She faced the path ahead of her again, the wind and sand blowing against her.

"Just curious."

Seraph flew in front of them all, having no Guardian to merge within. Ash leaned towards Whip. "How do you think she's holding up?" The young Ghost hadn't said anything to any of them in quite a while, worrying Ash.

Whip whispered back, "Not well. I mean, I'd be lost if I didn't have you. A Ghost without a Guardian is… well, a sad thing indeed. Let's just hope we find this place soon."

Suddenly, a dark mass appeared in front of her. She stopped to avoid hitting it, and heard the questions of the other two behind her. "Why'd we stop?" She reached a hand out to touch the shape in front of her, and felt it touch something hard and jagged. It was rock, and she started moving around to see more of the mass. This close, she was able to see that the rock stretched into an incline that formed a makeshift path up a mountain.

"I've got good news and bad news guys," she said, turning around to face her comrades. "There's a mountain in front of us."

Aria crossed her arms. "How does a mountain suddenly just sneak up on us like that?"

Ash pondered this. "The storm has gotten to the point where it's difficult to see more than a few feet in front of us, so that's why we probably didn't see it; most of it is covered in sand and rock anyway, a lot of it being the same color as the sand blowing in the wind. But that's where the good news comes in."

"And what would that be?" asked the Stranger. Ash pointed up the landmass.

"There's a possible path up to the top, and it will be easier to see where we're going from up there."

The Stranger contemplated for a moment, then nodded her head. "It's worth a shot, at least." Aria gave no argument, and they couldn't really afford to waste time just standing around debating. Ash grabbed the top of the first rocky outcrop, and pulled herself up on top of it. Kneeling and then reaching a hand down, she helped up Aria, and then the Stranger. Once all of them were up, they precariously set along the path that Ash had spied.

In many places, the path was almost invisible due to the sandstorm, and some chunks of the ground were missing. Had they stepped in any of these areas, they would have fallen down the side of the mountain. Fortunately, the Ghosts scanned the ground in front of them, alerting them to possible dangers wherever they found one.

After some length of time that Ash wasn't really keeping track of, they came across a large rectangular opening into the mountain. The opening was in the center of a cluster of Vex blocks, and almost seemed to beckon them in. "At least it's shelter," commented Ash, seeing that the storm wasn't blowing into the opening. With this in mind, they ventured through.

Once inside, artificial light assaulted them. This structure was obviously abandoned, though strangely connected to a power source. "What the hell? Why would this site have power?" asked Aria, her mind scanning through possible explanations.

"Maybe there's a power grid, and this area just happens to run on the same one," suggested the Stranger. That caused Ash to stop in her tracks.

"What's the matter Ash?" whispered Aria, alarmed at her friend's sudden behavior. She turned around excitedly.

"If there's a power grid nearby, then that means that the Vex are using power somewhere near here."

Aria shrugged. "So?"

"So," continued Ash, "we've seen tons of Vex structures without power here. What could they possibly be using power for here of all places?" It clicked in their heads, and both the Stranger and Aria understood.

"You don't think…?" began Aria tentatively.

"Why not? We were bound to run across it sooner or later," the Stranger pointed out.

Ash made a follow-me gesture. "Let's go!"

They ran with renewed energy through the structure, following the apparent pathway that led throughout the mountain. There was no talk, only the powerful urge that drove them to continue running, to see if there was finally an end to their struggles for the last few months.

After many turns and inclines, they exited the mountain's interior through another rectangular doorway. Up here at this altitude, the sandstorm could not reach them, and they could actually see it as a whole down below, covering practically all the landscape for miles and miles. And then they saw it.

The ground beneath them was a ledge of a cliff. The sandstorm was still raging, but it seemed to be doing less so here, making it much easier to see. Looking over the precipice, there were giant canyon walls on either side of them, several hundred feet in either direction. In front of them, the canyon led into a massive crater, a pit that seemed to have no end. Four incredibly large support beams stretched from anchor points around the canyon, and met underneath an enormous structure held in place above the pit by the support beams. The structure almost seemed to look like a machine-like castle, and there was only one entrance; a giant bridge nearly two hundred feet in width, that reached for nearly half a mile before it met the entrance to the giant facility.

On the sides of the entrance were two unbelievable massive doors that would more than prevent entry should they close; fortunately, the doors were open currently. The entrance itself was nearly one-hundred feet tall, and as wide as the bridge.

"That's the stronghold," said the Stranger with a tone of disbelief. Ash didn't blame her. They'd been searching for so long it had seemed they might never find it, yet here it was in front of them They could simply jump from the edge, land on the ground down below, and charge across the bridge through the entrance. Except…

"Vex," spat Aria, indicating the collection of Goblins, Hobgoblins, Minotaurs, and Harpies that littered the area of the bridge and the canyon below them.

"I suppose if you're going to guard something, guard it well," muttered Ash.

"There are too many," said the Stranger, surprising Ash and Aria. "Not even I suspected that we would be this outnumbered… there must be thousands!"

Ash grabbed her arm and pulled her close. "Look, Aria and I are doing this. We're going to get in there, retrieve the Spark, and save both the Traveler and all of the Guardians that died protecting it. Are you with us or not?"

The Stranger opened her mouth to argue, then closed it and said nothing, instead nodding very slowly. Ash let her go. "Alright then. Aria, you good to go?" Aria patted the side of her pulse rifle that Echo had retrieved for her. "You bet." Whip materialized Ash's scout rifle above her hands, and she caught it as it fell.

The Stranger retrieved her own yellow pulse rifle from her back, having no Ghost to store her items. "I hope you two are prepared for this."

Ash looked out at the impossible odds before them. Seraph flew next to her. "You ready to get your Guardian back Seraph?"

The Ghost looked at her and nodded. "I am. Are you?"

She looked out at the waves of Vex, thinking of every single one of them as a soldier of the Darkness, and by fault, a contributing factor to Matt's death. She turned off the safety on her rifle. "I think we all are."

Without a backward glance, she leapt off the cliff ledge. She flew towards the ground, waiting until she was about twenty feet to touchdown before activating her jump pack. Her speed gradually slowed down before her feet made contact with the ground, and she bent her knees to absorb the impact. Next to her on either side, Aria and the Stranger completed their descents as well. All three began charging forward through the canyon, eager to get as much speed and progress as possible before being noticed by the Vex.

It wasn't until they'd actually made it onto the bridge itself that any of the Vex finally noticed. A Goblin turned its red eye in their direction, and immediately all the others followed suit. It wasn't long before they were, in addition to running across the half-mile long bridge, evading fire and returning it as well. The air quickly became filled with the heat of lasers targeting them from all directions, criss-crossing in the air.

"Right now would be a really useful time for us to have a Ward of Dawn!" yelled Aria, firing to the side to take out a Minotaur raising its cannon to launch a void projectile.

Ash called back, "Or a Nova Bomb to clear out some of these bastards!" She threw her fist forward, her plated hand punching through the white center of a Hobgoblin, crushing its circuitry inside.

The Stranger held off several Harpies that chased them from behind. She grunted, "Well we don't have those in our arsenal, and you won't have them again unless we get to that Spark!"

A large Praetorian turned its mechanical head and emitted a series of shrieks and squeals to several other Vex. The noises were repeated back by every Vex that heard it, and soon the air was filled with the sound of metallic screeching. As though they triggered an alarm, the massive doors that stood open to the stronghold now began to close and block off the two-hundred foot wide entrance. They moved like sliding doors, albeit massive, stone-and-metal sliding doors. If they closed, there was no way they were going to get in.

"Hurry!" yelled Ash to her companions, and without time to waste, they began sprinting across the bridge towards the entrance, now in a race to outrun the doors and enter before they could close. Vex still fired at them, but their numbers were thinning out the closer they got to the entrance. Ironically, the weakest line of defense was closest to what they were protecting. Apparently they hadn't expected anyone to attack, let alone make it this far.

The rumble of the door's stone material sliding against rock shook the ground, and the vibrations travelled through the bridge and into their legs, just another reminder of what they were trying to do. The doors had now closed to a point where the entrance to the facility, having at first been two hundred feet wide, was now limited to merely seventy feet in width, with another foot disappearing about every second or so. This revelation forced Ash to run faster, determined to beat the clock. She hadn't been searching for so long, hadn't gotten so close to saving Matt, just to be defeated by a set of large sliding doors.

Finally, they were within three hundred feet of the entrance. The width had now been reduced to just twenty to thirty feet wide. Pushing herself harder than she'd ever pushed before, she set her entire life's goal on simply making it inside those doors. She could hear Aria panting from exhaustion behind her, and hoped that the Awoken girl would hold on for just a few seconds longer. She came closer and closer, and the opening became smaller and smaller… twenty feet… fifteen feet… ten feet…

With a last burst of speed, she reached the entrance with less than a five foot wide gap between doors. The Stranger and Aria came charging in immediately after her, and they all collapsed to the ground as the doors closed with a resounding slam behind them, dust billowing from the seam. Aria gasped over and over, attempting to force air into her lungs. Ash and the Stranger rested as well, allowing the strain of force against their limbs and motors to settle down. Though they might have had the souls of living beings, they had the bodies of machines, and even machines needed to rest.

With the doors closed, there was almost no light save for the luminescent blue eyes of the Ghosts in the room. "Well," began Echo, "we made it in. The hard part now is grabbing the Spark, and getting out."

Seraph hovered over to Ash. "There's Darkness in these walls, but I can also sense… light." She indicated a direction deeper into the facility. "That way."

Ash stood up properly, and walked over to Aria, extending her arm. "C'mon, let's get a move on. Our job isn't done yet." The Warlock accepted the helping hand gratefully, and allowed Ash to help pull her to her feet. The Stranger looked at them with almost a sad sort of longing, the desire to be part of a team, a family once again.

Ash noticed the look, and decided not to comment. "Lead the way, Seraph," she said to the young Ghost. Seraph cautiously began to fly forward, leading them deeper into the hallways and passages of the stronghold. Every turn and passage seemed to bring them closer to the center of the structure, likely where the Spark would be. The ceilings were high inside, as high as the doors had been outside. It all felt strangely empty, considering how many Vex had been seen outside. Apparently the Darkness was so arrogant that it hadn't set up proper defenses against intruders.

A large set of doors stood before them finally, a large chain holding them shut. Seraph zipped up to it, and began to shoot her blue beam at it. Within a few seconds, the chain disintegrated, fading away in a small flash of orange as its particles dispersed in the air. With a tentative hand, Ash reached forward and pushed the door open.

It moved surprisingly easily, and opened into a large chamber. In the center of the chamber was an altar of sorts, a series of circular steps that led up to a cylindrical pedestal in the middle of the room. A blackish bubble hovered above the pedestal, and inside the bubble was…

"The Spark!" exclaimed the Stranger, her shock and excitement shared mutually among Aria and Ash as well. Each of them slowly ascended the circular tiles until they stood next to the round plinth. The bubble appeared to be made of some kind of liquid-like substance, but what was even odder appeared to be the fact that whitish black flames licked the side of the bubble, as though it were ignited. Seraph flew backwards in fear. "That bubble is composed of Darkness, like the Black Garden's heart! If you touch it, it will corrupt your soul!"

Aria reached out, inching her fingers towards it to test. The closer they came, the colder she felt, as though ice was filling her insides. Disturbing thoughts crossed her mind until she could bear it no more, and she pulled her hand back sharply.

"It's lucky then that you brought me." The Stranger faced the bubble and reached out. "No, wait-!" cried out Seraph, but to everyone's surprise her fingers passed through easily. She gripped the Spark, and as she did so, the bubble of Darkness disappeared, dissolving into thin air. As it did so, Aria and Ash felt something change within themselves, as though some kind of mental weight on their chest had suddenly lifted, and the air around them became lighter, more friendly and inviting.

-X-

The Vanguards pored over several maps of the city on their long table, marking places that would need defending should a second wave ever hit. After three months however, the possibility seemed unlikely.

None of them had really spoken about it, but after such a long length of time without word from Ash or Aria, the Vanguards had little hope that they were still alive. Zavala and Ikora were now feeling the loss as heavily as Cayde had when Matt died. Of course they'd all been saddened by the deaths of so many Guardians in the final battle, but there was just a bond that they had formed with these particular three that drew them to care quite strongly about them. The loss was a great blow in any matter, even if it were simply for the fact that three of the greatest Guardians to exist in recent times had perished.

Suddenly, each of them gasped out loud as a force like a punch in the stomach came over all of them. Recovering their breath, they felt a great presence leave them, as though there had been something looming over them that they hadn't noticed until it was gone.

They turned to each other in confusion before looking towards the doorway as the sound of quick footsteps approached them. Jogging into the Hall of Guardians was the Speaker, and he looked upon them with a tangible sense of joy.

"Did you feel it too?" he asked. "They've done it! The Spark of the Traveler has been freed!" The Veteran Guardians all faced each other with disbelief and shock on their features, smiles slowly starting to form on all of them.

-X-

She held out the Spark to Ash for her to carry, and the Titan willingly accepted it. In her hand, it felt as though she were holding a ball made of liquid. It was warm, and she felt herself filling up with light from contact with it. Rays of brightness shone from it, and the outer layer was a sort of membrane that she could force her fingers through. She looked up at the Stranger. "How did you know that it wouldn't destroy you?"

The Stranger gave her a look of regret. "I may have changed what side I was fighting for, but that doesn't lift the sins of my past from my soul. I'm still, and always will be, part of the Darkness to a degree. I am immune to corruption if I'm already corrupt."

Seraph looked at the Spark curiously. "That's odd, I'm detecting… power, but _old_ power… power that hasn't been touched in centuries."

Ash snapped her fingers. "That's awesome, but do you think that we could possibly do what we came to get this thing for?"

The Ghost looked at her for a second, and then nodded vigorously. "Of course. Don't think that I don't want him back just as much as you two do; I was merely commenting. Show me the Spark." Ash held it out towards her, and as she did so white light began flowing from the Spark and into the Ghost. Once the flow stopped, Seraph looked at a spot near the base of the altar, and began to expand into her spherical form.

Blue light pulsed from her, and she increased her radius to allow a larger area of exposure. Light began to fill the area, pure bright light. A humanoid shape began to take form, and it slowly transitioned from a blurry sort of mess to a clear cut image the longer the light surrounded the area. A few more seconds passed, and suddenly a white flash blinded all of them, sending them reeling and stumbling.

Aria blinked her eyes rapidly, attempting to rid herself of the blindness. Suddenly, she stopped. Laying down where Seraph had been pulsing was the body of Matt, clothed in his black under-suit. Nobody moved or said anything, too shocked to believe it had worked. The tension in the air was so tangible, it could have been cut with a knife.

A groan emitted from Matt's mouth, and pushed Ash into action. She rushed over to his side, inserting her arms underneath his back to lift his torso from the floor. "Matt? Are you there?" He opened his eyes, and looked at her.

"Okay, so you're not gonna _believe_ the crazy dream I was having." He smiled.

All of Ash's composure dissolved as she laughed, and pulled him forward into an embrace, overjoyed at the fact that he was with them once again. He wrapped his arms around her to reciprocate. "We missed you so much," she said through deep breaths. " _I_ missed you."

"I know. I'm here now." He glanced up slightly. "Seraph! How's my favorite little Ghost doing?"

She chuckled. "Oh you know, still triggering alarms and whatnot. The usual."

He looked up even further to see Aria and the Stranger standing there. "Aria!" he called happily, motioning for her to join them. She took the opportunity smiling, and all three now hugged each other on the ground, happy at being together once more.

"I don't mean to break up the happy reunion," said the Stranger carefully, "but we do still have the issue of getting out of here." Ash and Aria nodded, but Matt appeared confused. "Wait, where are we?" He furrowed his brow. "For that matter, how did you guys even bring me back? I used up all the Traveler's light in the core!"

Aria began to explain, "Well, we travelled to Mercury to seek out the Vex prison holding the Spark of the Traveler so that we could retrieve it, and use it to begin healing the Traveler and revive most of the Guardians we lost in the final battle, including you. We've been walking on foot around Mercury for about 3 months now, have managed to bypass an entire Vex army, and are now trapped inside the stronghold since I don't think those huge doors are gonna be opening any time soon." She gestured to one of the hallways behind her, apparently indicating the entrance a ways back.

Matt's mouth made a small 'o' shape. "Okay… I'm gonna assume that's bad."

She nodded. "Pretty much."

Seraph began to transmat various armor pieces of Matt's gear. "Before I unveil my bad idea, I think it's probably a good bet that you're going to need your gear." He started putting his stuff on as she spoke to the group in general.

"There may still be a way out of here. It's just a bit unorthodox, though I highly doubt you all would mind that considering the stuff I've seen you all do." Ash cocked her head. "And what would this idea be?"

The Ghost flew over to the Spark, still being held by Ash. " _This_ is how. I think I know what that power I scanned earlier from the Spark is; it's a set of abilities, long forgotten by Guardians as the years have gone by. After so long, those powers have become nothing but rumors, legends told to those who will listen."

She flew over to Matt, now dressed in his gear. "Tales of the Nightstalker." She hovered over by Aria. "The Stormcaller." Finally, she looked at Ash. "And the Sunbreaker. They once were in abundance, but were left behind as those who wielded the abilities slowly disappeared, the cause of which is unknown. But now, with the actual Spark of the Traveler among us, I believe us Ghosts can infuse you with its light, and transfer those abilities to you all."

Aria scratched the top of her helmet. "But how are these abilities going to help us get out of here?"

The young Ghost turned to her. "I'm sure a Nova Bomb or two could break at least a reasonable hole in those massive doors. However, you must remember that there's still an entire Vex army on the other side, and your abilities are mostly focused on killing specific targets you set aside for yourself."

"The Gunslinger only has a few seconds of energy before you become drained of light, enough to get out maybe the magazine of a hand cannon. The Bladedancer can tear through enemies like paper, but are limited with their movement, only able to kill those in close proximity to them if at all. The Striker can kill as many people as are around them, but it's a one-off ability, and takes a lot of energy. The Defender can only protect from inside their Ward of Dawn, and frankly it wouldn't really help us right now. Nova Bomb would be effective if we could use a huge number of them, but even creating one out takes a lot out of someone. The Sunsinger is useful for bringing oneself back from the dead and supporting others, but not much else."

She looked towards the Spark once more. "What we need are _these_ abilities, abilities meant to take on massive numbers of enemies, not just two or three." She motioned towards the hallway. "Enemies like the Vex army outside."

Matt looked conflicted for a second, and then shrugged. "Why not? If she says it's our best bet, I'm inclined to believe her." He then looked at his friends beside him. "Unless of course, you guys have any objections? I must admit, I don't know too much about what's going on. You know, the whole coming-back-from-the-dead thing."

Ash put a hand on his shoulder. "Even so, you're still our leader. Whatever you decide, we'll do it."

Aria nodded. "That's right. You haven't led us astray before, and I don't believe you'll start now." He looked at the Stranger. She shrugged. "I have no qualms. I've seen you in battle, you know what you're doing." He accepted each of their praise, and stared at Seraph. "Alright then. Let's do this."

She spun around in her little twirl. "Ooh, I love it when things get intense! Whip, Echo, I need you!" The two other Ghosts materialized. "Each of you stay next to your Guardian, as they absorb some of the Spark's light. We're going to search through it, and find the specific power that they must infuse within themselves. All you need to do is make sure that only that power goes through the transfer of light into them, who know what else is floating around inside there." She faced the Guardians. "You three, I need you to form a circle with the Spark in the center, and place your hands upon it."

Ash lifted her hand still holding the Spark, and brought it away. The Spark still maintained its position in the air, hovering as though waiting for them. Each of them placed their hand on top of it from a different side, forming an odd triangle in shape. As they did so, ethereal gas and white vapor began moving up their arms, and into them. "Whip, Echo, monitor that!" The Ghosts scanned the Spark, and each found the respective abilities that were needed for each Guardian. They filtered the flow of energy from the Spark, as Matt, Ash, and Aria glowed white with the light moving into them.

-X-

The Vex continued to move across the bridge, making their way towards the huge doors which the Guardians had managed to get through before they closed. Each unit was prepared to fire, should the doors open to let them out. With this many Vex, the air would easily be filled with nothing but the burning heat of lasers. There would be no escape for these pathetic soldiers of the Traveler.

Suddenly, there was a noise. It sounded like flame igniting, and it came from behind the doors. They all readied themselves accordingly, waiting for the doors to-

 _Wham._ The noise of something hitting the door sounded out, and it sounded powerful. What could possibly make that-

 _Wham._ It repeated, once more causing the Vex to search through their collective memory to see what that sound could possibly be. Finally, they came across memories from years past, and fear, the one emotion the Vex hadn't felt in a long time, began to increase tenfold, absolute hatred of this source due to the power and damage it dealt to their forces-

 _WHAM!_ With an explosion of rock and flame, a hole appeared in the doors near the bottom, having been broken apart by the fiery hammer that Ash wielded. She charged through, throwing her Hammer of Sol into the groups of Vex again and again, as it returned to her hand each time she threw it. It blew apart the machines, circuitry flying everywhere, bodies smoking and aflame. A large group of Minotaurs that had been towards the back of the initial wave trained their eyes on her, and readied their aim.

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Matt, leaping into the air and firing off a Shadowshot. The void projectile impaled a Minotaur towards the center of the pack, and immediately purple tethers of void energy shot out, attaching themselves to the other nearby Minotaurs, and effectively suppressing them. He mopped them up with several shots from his hand cannon, the tethers having weakened them from exposure to pure void energy.

More waves of Vex continued to move up the bridge towards them, attempting to fill the gap of Vex that they'd just destroyed. They soon were stopped as well, however, by the lightning and sparks that shot from Aria's fingertips toward them as she entered her Stormtrance. Moving through the ranks of Vex, arcs of lighting chained through the machine beings, and completely fried their motors and wiring, obliterating them with pure arc energy.

The Stranger ran behind them, letting of bursts of fire from her pulse rifle to clean up whatever the other three missed. Within a few seconds, a large portion of the Vex's numbers had been neutralized.

"Come on! We have to get to the top of that mountain!" yelled Ash as she lead the charge, her hammer slamming against the ground again and again, breaking through the lines of Vex one throw at a time. "Start calling in the Javelin, Whip!"

"On it!" responded the Ghost.

"What's at the top of the mountain?" yelled Matt, letting loose another Shadowshot.

"You see this sand that's blowing in the wind? It's from a storm that'll destroy the Javelin's engines if it clogs them up!" explained Aria, calling over her shoulder as she electrocuted several Harpies. "And I'm assuming we want transport, correct?" She flew forward, this group taken care of.

"That would be the preferable option, yes!" he responded.

The Stranger pointed. "Look!" The Javelin was soaring in from above, and slowed its velocity enough to make a stop above the mountain, just above the cliff which they'd stood on before. They continued moving across the half-mile long bridge until they reached the base. Vex still swarmed the area surrounding the anchor points where the bridge was attached to the side of the pit. Dodging projectiles left and right, Matt fired off one last Shadowshot to keep the Vex at bay, allowing them to continue moving forward and reach the foot of the mountain.

"Start climbing!" Whip called out. Once each of the Guardians made it to the base and stopped using their super abilities, they began ascending the slope, using rocks and outcrops as stepping stones to make it to their destination. Their climb was made even more difficult by the sandstorm buffeting them, and the Vex soldiers which fired at them from below. The lasers hit rocks above and below them, sometimes sending a few chunks tumbling down and into the paths of the Guardians climbing the mountain. Eventually things got slightly easier once they reached an altitude above the sandstorm.

"Hurry!" cried Ash who was near the ledge they needed to go to. Reinvigorated with energy, the other three pushed themselves even harder and faster. One rock was loose, and as soon as the Stranger gripped it, it crumbled and sent her falling below.

Aria, who was conveniently below her, reached out a hand and caught the Exo by the wrist. Using the last reserves of her strength, she pulled the Stranger up and to the rock face so that she could continue climbing. "Thanks," panted the Stranger, not pausing to chat. It was only another minute or so before they reached the top along with Matt and Ash.

"Alright, we can transmat inside now." said Echo.

"Hold on a second," muttered Matt, and he walked over to the edge of the outcrop, staring down at the Vex below. Echo looked questioningly at Aria, and she shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know what he was doing either.

Matt waved at the Vex down below. "Hey! Yes, you down there, all of you!" Slowly, they turned their collection of red eyes up to look at him, bewildered. They hadn't expected one of them to initiate conversation. "I have a message for the Darkness, so turn on your recording devices or whatever, and listen up!" They simply stared at him, too stunned to react.

He gestured behind him to the other three. "You have tried to kill us many, _many_ times. You actually almost succeeded in killing me, though I get the final credit for killing myself, thank you very much." He laughed. "I just want you to realize that no matter how hard you've tried, we always manage to come out on top. You can beat us down, you can imprison us, you can even kill us apparently, but we won't stay down for long." He raised his hand into the air in a mock fist-pump.

"Guardians never die! At least, not really. Even if you take away our friends, take our worlds, take our _lives_ , our legend will always live on!" He pointed at the Vex as though they were a camera now. "And as for you?" He then proceeded to insult the Vex and the Darkness by way of old human tradition; raising his middle finger at them and flipping them off. "You can SUCK IT!"

The Vex emitted squeals and screeches of hatred, and resumed firing at them. Matt ducked his head back from the ledge before he could be hit, and looked at Echo. "Now, we can go." The Ghost shook his head as Aria placed her face in the palm of her hand, and Ash laughed.

The Stranger simply smiled. "What an eloquent speech, Guardian." He bowed in mock honor and gratitude as blue grids surrounded them, and transmatted them onto the Javelin. The next floor they felt was the metal plating of their ship, and they cheered as the Javelin began to rise up, and propelled itself towards the sky, leaving Mercury and its horrors behind.

-X-

The Javelin slowly entered the hangar, following the guidance of a Frame waving them in with green traffic control sticks. Matt felt slightly uneasy. "How do you think everyone's gonna react? I mean, you did break orders, not that I'm complain of course, but I'm just wondering if Ikora Rey is going to summon a ball of void energy again and say something like, 'How dare you disobey me!' you know?"

Aria laughed. "Somehow, I don't think she's going to do that." She bit her lip. "I am, however, also concerned that there might be consequences for what we've done. I mean, we did technically commit mutiny."

Ash stood up from her pilot seat, and looked at them. "Whatever happens, just ask yourselves; was it worth it? Was what we did worth the risk?"

Matt raised his hand, and kept a straight face. "I didn't really do anything, 'cause I was dead the whole time, so what do _I_ ask myself?"

Ash responded to his joke with a smile and said, "Are you happy to be alive?"

He pretended to think about it for a moment. "Ooh, that's a tough one. I'm gonna go with… yes, I am _very_ happy to be not-dead."

He and Aria stood up as the boarding ramp lowered. The Stranger, who had been standing behind them, looked down and out through it. "You three may not have to worry about that." Curious as to what she meant, they moved towards the ramp and descended to the hangar floor below.

As they did, cheers rang out from a huge crowd of Guardians that had come to greet them, having been alerted to their ship returning home by Amanda Holliday's monitoring of airspace. At the front of the crowd were the Vanguards. Ikora held her composure well, though she did smile warmly at the fact that they were all still alive. Zavala lightly clapped along with the other Guardians, and Cayde was all out applauding, and telling any Guardian who would listen, "I helped put their mission together! You're welcome everyone!"

Standing in front of the Vanguards was the Speaker. He was unreadable, and gave no body language for them to react to. They continued walking down the ramp until they stood in front of him, and he held up his hand. Immediately, the crowd silenced itself.

"Do you have it?" he asked. Matt motioned to Seraph.

"Could you get it for us, Seraph?" Immediately, the Spark appeared in the air, Seraph having materialized it from storage. The Speaker reached out, and gently grabbed it. It pulsed with white light, and he looked up at them.

"You truly have saved the Traveler, as well as countless other Guardians that its light will now help resurrect. You have both my thanks and my respect." He bowed to them deeply.

"Oh no, that's alright…" Ash stopped speaking as every Guardian in the crowd followed his lead, including the Vanguards. They all stooped low and silently to show their gratitude towards the amazing feat which their fire team had accomplished. Aria felt her heart beating in her chest. Less than a year ago, she'd been a novice trainee. She'd been waiting for a chance to become a Guardian, to prove herself amongst other followers of the light. And now, the entire assembly of Guardians, including the Vanguards and the Speaker, were bowing to her and her companions. She had more than proved her worthiness, and that was all that mattered to her.

The Speaker stood back up. "As I understand it, you've all had a long journey." He face Matt, and chuckled. "You most of all. It's good to see you once more, my young Guardian."

Matt nodded. "Oh believe me, it's good to be back."

The Speaker faced them all now. "I wish I could stay, but I have work to do. The Spark must be returned to its rightful place, and the Guardians lost must be revived." With a curt nod, he began to exit the hangar, taking the Spark with him.

The Vanguards walked closer, filling the gap that the Speaker had left. "You three have achieved more than we even dreamt was possible," praised Ikora.

Zavala nodded. "What you've done can only be described as… well, as-"

"Amazing! Fantastic! Absolutely frabjous!" exclaimed Cayde. "I don't think there's been a better team of Guardians to ever set foot in the Tower! What'd I tell you both?" He gestured to the other two Vanguards. Off to the side, Ikora muttered to herself, "What on earth does frabjous mean…?"

"Also, you! Yes, you in the back there!" Cayde pointed to the Stranger who was attempting to remain unseen behind them. "Gotta give credit where it's due, and you helped out just as much as these three, perhaps even more, I don't know." He walked over to her, and extended his hand. "For what it's worth, you have my respect and forgiveness. You're welcome here any time you wish." Neither Ikora nor Zavala raised any objections.

She shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but there's still much work to be done. I myself have an urgent mission that I've taken leave of, and now that I'm back I believe it's time to resume that mission…" With that, she walked towards the exit of the hangar towards the courtyard, and left. Cayde shrugged.

"Ah well, I offered. C'mon you three, there's gonna be a celebration tonight I tell ya." The Vanguards began following the same path the Stranger had walked down.

Matt moved toward the large opening into the hangar, looking out at the Traveler. Ash came up on his right side, and he put his arm around her. "We did it. Or rather, you guys did it. I wasn't there for most of the journey." Ash laughed softly. "Well, you're here now, and that's all that matters.

Aria came up on his left side. "So, fearless leader, what's our next move?"

His face took on a thoughtful expression. "Honestly, I just want a bit of a break. I mean, I did kinda die, I think I may have earned one." They all laughed together, Matt somehow managing to lighten the mood even now. "And then…" he paused, and then his brows furrowed in determination, a look of adventure set on his face.

"And then, I'd say we continue doing what we've been doing this whole time. Finding our way… searching for our destiny in these new lives of ours."

They all stood silent with that profound statement hanging in the air. Matt abruptly turned away from the hangar opening, and called out, "But first, I'm getting a drink. Who's with me?" Ash and Aria cheered back in response, and they all set off together not just as friends, but as family.


	15. An Unfinished Story

The Speaker walked up to the railing of his balcony, near his study. There, he gazed out at the magnificent view of the Traveler he had. He looked down at the Spark in his hands, and held them out over the edge. The Spark began to emit a strong force like a magnet. Smiling, he released his hands and watched as the Spark flew through the air at an astonishing speed on a trajectory towards the Traveler. It knew where to go, and soon the Traveler would begin to heal.

He turned around and began to head back towards his study before a flash of light occurred behind him. Turning, he saw light radiating out from the cracked bottom of the Traveler, and spreading over the city. This wave of energy continued to travel in its pulse like expansion until it even reached the tower, and a great wave of light came over them. The Speaker heard a voice in his head, saw images that he could not explain, images of great importance that he had not pieced together yet.

He closed his eyes attempting to focus, and suddenly his mind became clear once more. He gasped in surprise, and turned to the Traveler as though he were engaged in a conversation with it.

"You mean… there is another?" He felt at a loss for words, yet the answer was clear as day. There would be another, one who would shine in the light like no other. The last time an individual had appeared to be of this quality, however, things had not turned out so well. Ikora even warned new Guardians now, stating that, _There are those the light was never meant to touch._

This one would not become like them, however. He would see to that. He would tend them, nurture them, blow on their spark of potential until it ignited into a burning flame. He would not fail again.

The _Balance_ would come, and it would come soon.

* * *

END OF "GUARDIANS NEVER DIE" PART 1

TO BE CONTINUED IN "GUARDIANS NEVER DIE" PART 2:

"HUNTERS OF LIGHT"

* * *

Hey guys, Author here. What you just read was the epilogue, as well as a partial sneak peek into what I have to offer next! I've already begun work on "Hunters of Light", but will not upload it for a while so that others may have a chance to read and enjoy this story first.

I just want you all to know that I had the idea for this story stuck in my head since Destiny first came out, and I never thought I'd actually get it out there. But I pushed myself to do so in the summer, and now you're reading the end of a 14 chapter story that never would have happened otherwise. You all are awesome readers, and whenever I see reviews come out for my content it just makes me want to write more! I'll be writing the first chapter of "Hunters of Light" soon, so mark me as a favorite author if you'd like to read that as soon as I upload it.

This series is now titled "Guardians Never Die", as is the first part of the series as you can see. There will be several stories in the series, each one consisting of different aspects of the game, i.e. The Dark Below, House of Wolves, and the Taken King. However, "Hunters of Light" is actually going to have a non-dlc related story, completely original, and will have three new characters starring as the main protagonists. This isn't to say that you won't see anymore of Matt, Ash, and Aria though! They are still very important characters to this next story, and will become main characters once again in the future stories to come.

-Matteoarts


	16. HUNTERS OF LIGHT (Book 2)

**HUNTERS OF LIGHT**

Five years after the disappearance of three legendary Guardians, a mystery transmission sparks a chain of events that nobody expects. With the abrupt discovery of a child of light, people whose souls are created by the Traveler itself, it is her mission to track down the source of the message, and unveil the answers to bring balance to the light and the dark.

* * *

The Speaker walked into the Hall of Guardians, here to speak with the Vanguards. All of them wore solemn masks, though he could tell they were truly filled with anxiety and excitement. He motioned for them to speak. "You called me here, so what is the purpose of this gathering?"

Ikora Rey swallowed nervously, and then said, "We've received a message, Speaker. A transmission originating from Venus, deep within its mantle."

The Speaker tilted his head slightly. "That's quite peculiar indeed. I thought that our scouts had all but left the planet?" Zavala nodded. "They did. And that's not the half of it. The transmission consisted of two components; the first was a message that simply repeats once it has ended. Listen." He placed an audio device in the center of the table, and let it play.

The Speaker listened intently, trying to make sense of the words. He wished he could say that he recognized the voice, but the quality was too garbled, and the wording itself was barely recognizable. The message ended, and he looked gravely at the Vanguards.

"I had wondered when this day would come. For seven years, I've wondered, trusting that the Traveler would make its intentions known soon."

Cayde looked at him curiously. "You mean you knew this would happen?"

The Speaker shook his head. "Not like this, no. But I had a suspicion of something else. On the day we returned the Spark to the Traveler, it spoke to me. It told me that the Balance would come, that another child of light would be revealed."

Ikora gasped as Cayde looked away muttering, "My God…"

"And you believe this… individual, that the message names is them? That it is indeed the truth, that they are the Balance?" questioned Zavala.

The Speaker nodded. "I have no doubt of that."

Cayde clapped his hands together. "Alright then, in that case there's no time to waste. We need to find this child of light fast. I'll send some scouts to ask around the city, search for this person. When we find them, you'll need to take them in Zavala."

The Titan Vanguard nodded. "That seems like a reasonable plan."

"What was the second part of the message?" asked the Speaker, confused. "You said there were two components."

Cayde nodded, "Ah, yes. Well you see, this bit is kinda difficult to explain, and we're a bit hesitant about actually using it."

"Using it?" questioned the Speaker. Ikora provided a proper response; "Speaker, the message consists of something we're not quite sure how to deal with at the moment."

She explained it to him, and the Speaker realized the gravity of the situation. "Oh my. I understand your hesitation." He paused. "But there can be room for pause no longer. I want you to use that, and see what else we can find out." He began walking out of the hall, muttering to himself, "It's been five years. It's time to bring them home."

* * *

 _A/N: And in accordance with your advice, the second book will be updated here! I've already finished it, so you can expect a chapter a day to be uploaded! Hope you all are enjoying the ride so far, and I'm glad to see you guys have been waiting even through all these months. Here are a few mentions;_

 _Grimkid98, you were among the first to review/follow this story, and your words of encouragement made me feel great every time I saw a new review from you!_

 _The Sacred Panda, you were also an early follower, and helped make the decision for me to continue updating here!_

 _Neon Scar, you're a person of few words, but you make them meaningful when you use them. Thank you!_

 _And an honorable mention to CalebOCallaghan; thank you for the praise of thinking this story is good enough to be published! I'm not sure if I'd agree with you there, but it's appreciated all the same!_

 _Here's to another great adventure,_

 _-Matteoarts_


	17. Traveler's Child

\- "Battle for the Traveler", The City -

As her world crumbled around her, the young girl ran from the beasts that chased her through the streets. They'd already slaughtered her family and neighbors, but she had run away. Knowing what would happen if she stopped, she ignored the pain in her feet as she sprinted through the cobblestone paths and alleyways. The howls of the four-armed monsters behind her urged her forward, spurring her to go faster.

Finally, she made it to the main street, the street which would take her straight to the tower. She followed the road as the growls and echoes of her pursuers continued to terrify her into action. Suddenly, a large blast of arc energy from a passing Fallen ship impacted against the building to her right, causing it to completely explode in a shower of rock and debris. She was knocked off her feet, and landed several yards to the left, partially obscured in the rubble. She struggled to stand up, but a sharp pain in her foot, likely a broken bone, kept her from moving.

Footsteps slowly approached her from where she'd been running from, and she turned to see several Fallen staring at her. The largest one held two swords humming with energy, tiny sparks crackling in the air. It approached her, and began to raise them for the killing strike. She closed her eyes and held her breath, hoping that she wouldn't see her end coming.

Several gunshots rang out, and she heard the thud of a large mass hitting the ground. Waiting with bated breath, she was surprised to find that no sword came slicing through her abdomen. She tentatively opened her eyes to see the large Fallen on the ground, blood seeping from its chest. The other Fallen had faced the new threat, only to each be peppered with bullets, their heads exploding in gaseous vapor.

She looked to her left to see two humanoid shapes running towards her through the dust and clouds that all the gunfire had caused. As they approached, she saw that they were Guardians. One was a Hunter, his cloak flapping in the air and with white and blue armor. The other was a Warlock, her robes ripped at the bottom, colored white but with carnation pink accents and boots. They saw her lying in the debris, and the Hunter knelt down.

"Hey there. Looked like you were in a tough spot kid." She nodded vigorously to show that she agreed with him. "You saved my life!" He laughed. "Well, that's kind of our job. Are you alright?" She shook her head. "My foot hurts a lot, I can't walk," she said, pointing to her left foot. He nodded. "Alright. Aria, can you lend me a hand here? Possibly broken foot." The Warlock stepped closer, and one of her hands began to glow orange. "Hold still," she instructed, and the girl complied, eager to follow her saviors' commands. The Warlock reached her glowing hand forward until it made contact with her foot, and suddenly the pain disappeared.

"T- Thank you," she stammered, wanting to express her gratitude. The Warlock knelt down next to the Hunter. "It was no trouble, sweetie. Where are your parents? Do you know?" At the mention of her dead mother and father, the girl began to silently cry, tears streaking through the grime and dirt on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean- let's talk about something else. How old are you?" The girl sniffled a bit, but wiped away the tears and held her head up, hoping she looked more impressive than a crying baby. "I'm thirteen, almost fourteen." The Warlock gasped in easily detectable fake surprise. "Wow, you're thirteen? You're very brave for one so young." The girl decided to ignore the fact that this was obviously just meant to make her feel better, since the woman was just trying to help her.

"Ouch, looks like you got tagged badly there," said the Hunter, pointing to the girl's left cheek where a streak of burned and charred skin stretched from the middle up to her temple, leaving an angry red gash in the flesh. She nodded. "One of their orange cannons grazed me here earlier, it burned a lot." The Warlock looked over. "She got tagged by a shrapnel launcher? Imagine if that Captain had aimed even just a few inches more to the left-" The guy held up his hand to stop her. "Not in front of her, she doesn't need to hear that."

He looked at the girl again, and felt like he was analyzing her. He gestured to the mark again. "That's a pretty big scorch mark you've got. Can't say that you'll walk away without a scar on your face, but hey, at least you'll have a cool story, right?" His voice carried a smile with it, and she couldn't help but return it.

One of their Ghost's appeared, the Hunter's. "Matt, Ash is more than a little freaked out that neither you nor Aria are responding to her transmissions on the comms." He stood up quickly. "Shit, I didn't notice the radio hail, I was talking to the kid." He looked up into the sky, as if hoping to see something. "Ash, sorry. Situation got a bit complicated. Gonna need you to meet us over by where we led the other survivors, there's one more that we found." He paused, then nodded. "Understood. We're moving." As he turned back to the girl, a large ship flew overhead, black and shaped like a jet. It began to fly toward the base of the tower which was at the end of the main road.

The Hunter motioned to the girl with his arms. "C'mon, we're gonna get you out of here." She reached out, and he picked her up from under her arms. He bent down slightly, and placed her on his back. She looped her arms around, and held on tightly. "Let's go, Aria!" At a brisk pace, they began running down the main road.

They met no resistance along the way, and within ten minutes, they'd reached the tower. Looking inside the lobby, the girl could see a large number of other people, most of them wearing similarly tattered clothing and sporting injuries of all kinds. The Hunter leaned down, and set her on the road.

"Alright kid, this is the place. Head inside and wait here with the other survivors until the battle is over. Medics will come take care of you and make sure you're not in any more danger." She nodded to show her understanding. He gave her a small salute with one hand as he walked away, a little nod to her before he left. He began to stride towards the ship they'd seen earlier which now hovered twenty feet in the air a few meters away, waiting for him and the Warlock. The aforementioned Warlock also began to walk away, but the girl called out.

"How do you do it? How do you fight the monsters without being afraid?" The Warlock turned, and appeared to ponder the question. "Well, you don't. Every time I go into battle, I'm afraid. Afraid of losing those I care about, about being killed. About other things, some of which are worse than death." Her tone was serious, and the girl held onto every word.

"The trick is, we're always afraid. There's a difference between being fearless and being brave. Being fearless is stupid, it can get you killed if you don't heed signs of danger. But bravery means that you're using your fear to your advantage, and not letting it conquer you." The Warlock nodded. "If you have to be something, be brave." With that, she turned and followed the Hunter over to the ship where a blue light surrounded them, and they disappeared. A second later, the ship took off and began to fly towards the city center.

The girl stood there in awe, admiring her newfound idols. If she were to survive this battle, she knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to become a protector, to be one of the Guardians who fought off the monsters, who others looked up to.

Most of all, she wanted to be brave.

-X-

\- 7 Years Later, Outskirts of the City -

-X-

She sped through the obstacles on the course with the wind whipping her brown short-cut hair behind her. She glanced to the right to see the spectators on the side cheering as she zoomed by on her sparrow. She flashed them a smile, and continued on. One person's sparrow behind her malfunctioned, and began to short out. It nosedived into the dirt, and began flipping through the air, its rider flung off like a cowboy from a bull. She silently cheered as part of the competition was pulled away into the sidelines to avoid being run over.

All she had to do was finish this lap, and the prize would be hers for the taking. The only real rival she had to worry about was Numai, an Awoken female a few years older than her. She'd been racing sparrows since she was a kid, and had much more experience. But there was something that gave her an advantage over Numai, a sort of sense she had when things presented themselves to her. She couldn't explain it other than a natural ability to predict outcomes.

As she rounded the bend, she felt an odd urge to drift to the right and allow Numai to take the inside, usually a move that would be suicide winning-wise. Sh ignored that line of thought, and decided to trust her instincts as they'd steered her right so many times before. Pulling to the right slightly, she gave enough room for Numai to speed up and take the lead by a few feet. The veteran racer turned to look at her as she flew past.

"Thanks for the win, dumbass!" She gave a loud laugh before her vehicle hit a four foot long shard of the exploded sparrow from earlier that had flown clear of its original vehicle, and stuck itself vertically in the dirt on the track. She couldn't remember having made note of it, but apparently she had sensed that it would be there waiting for another sparrow to hit it. Numai's sparrow immediately flipped, throwing her into the dirt and out of the race. Raising her two hands in the air, she piloted the sparrow the remaining twenty feet forward, and accepted the loud cheers that greeted her win.

As several members of the crowd ran onto the track, she walked back over to Numai who was cursing from all the scrapes she'd accumulated in her tumble. The Awoken gave her a withering glare, but she only smirked in reply. "I guess you could say that you got… scorched!"

Numai looked confused, then widened her eyes. "Wait… what?" She shrugged. "You know, because like… I'm Scorch? My racing name? It's a play on words." Numai just looked stunned. "But… that's so _dumb!_ " Scorch jerked her head, taken aback. "What? I thought it was clever!" Number shook her head. "No, making your racing name "Scorch" after your scar was clever. That one-liner? Not so much." The Awoken woman walked away much to the chagrin of Scorch, who stood there dumbfounded. Just when she'd thought that she'd gotten the last word in on Numai, she tore down her catchphrase.

Shaking her head, she walked back toward the crowd of people. The race manager flagged her down. "Hey there, Scorch! Listen, I've got a race for you. Four thousand guaranteed, seven thousand if you win, near 'Messenger's Fall'." He slapped a card into her waiting hand. "That's your money prize for the race, it's got all five thousand on it." She nodded. "Thanks, Jay!" The manager tilted his hat forward in acknowledgement, then turned to address the crowd. "That's all for tonight, folks! One more time, let's hear it for Scorch!"

The crowd of people whooped and cheered, mob mentality forcing each of them to follow the others' example. Scorch smiled, and waved back at them. Deciding it was time for her to head home, she began to walk towards her sparrow, her mode of transport. She held out her hand and said to the air, "Go ahead and store that for later please. I might lose it otherwise." A Ghost popped up in front of her, and scanned it.

"You've really got to learn cooler catchphrases. 'You got scorched'? Not the best idea you've had." She shrugged. "I'll think of something else for next time."

Suddenly, a ship lit up their position, spotlights flooding the area. The symbols on the side indicated that it was from the tower, a task force's transport. Now usually, Scorch was very grateful for the work that the city's task force did in cleaning our Fallen bandits and whatnot, but they were definitely a less than welcome sight here.

"Shit, we've got guards! Everyone, run!" The race manager's voice called out to the crowd from behind her, and the large group began to disperse, people sprinting in every direction but toward the ship. Suddenly a voice began to emit from an external speaker.

"This is the city task force. We are looking for an individual who goes by the name of Scorch. I repeat, we are looking for an individual who goes by the name of Scorch." She stopped in her tracks, and turned to look at the ship. They were looking for her? That couldn't be good. She began to run even faster toward her sparrow, but evidently her moment of hesitation had marked her as their target. Blue grids of light appeared in the air, and with them came Guardians of the city. There were three of them, two of which were Titans sporting the task force emblem. The third was a Warlock with task force robes who stood several feet in front of her, and held out his hand. "Halt!"

The Titans on the side came at her, and attempted to apprehend her. She rolled forward out of their reach, and next to the Warlock. Bringing one hand up, she clocked him in the head with the palm, and with him stunned she ran the last few feet to her sparrow. Hopping on, it started immediately, and she blasted off into the darkness. Being on the outskirts of the city near the wall, she hadn't expected any of the task force to find them. If they were really looking just for her, then whatever it was couldn't be good. Maybe they were here to finally take back Spectre, maybe not. Either way, she wasn't planning to find out.

She thought she'd gotten away before the spotlight found her zooming away on her sparrow once more. Out here in open fields, she couldn't avoid it, and she knew that they were going to track her. Or, at least she thought they would. A crack sounded in the air, and a humming sound steadily grew louder before something finally hit the front of her sparrow. It immediately ceased to work, and she fell onto the ground as it crashed into the dirt. She tried to push herself back up with her hands, but as she got to her knees, she heard the sound of footsteps. Looking up, she made note of the task force Warlock from earlier. Held in his hands was a sniper rifle with a smoking barrel.

"Sorry about that, but we really couldn't allow you to get away. It's taken us a while just to find you here, and we didn't feel like repeating the process. Consider us even for you smacking me in the face." She said nothing, but instead stood up, and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket. He took his helmet off, and held it at his side. He was a male Exo, with a light grey colored face, and glowing green eyes. A black stripe stretched from his forehead up to the top of his face, ending in a triangular point. A waited for her to say something, and then sighed in exasperation. "Look, we're not here to arrest you for illegal sparrow-racing. You can even keep whatever earnings you won, but we really need your help."

This seemed highly suspicious, and she raised one of her eyebrows. "You need my help? With what, ratting out other racers? Because if you think-" He shook his head. "No, this has nothing to do with that." He looked around. "Look, I can't really discuss it here. You're coming with us like it or not, but you can decide to leave later if you're so inclined." Now she was truly curious, because the guard seemed genuine. "I would highly recommend against that," came Spectre's voice.

The Warlock looked around. "Who was that?" The Ghost appeared, and narrowed his eye at the Exo. "That would be me." The Exo seemed sincerely confused. "Wait, you have a Ghost? But how-?" He shook his head to clear his mind. "Never mind, it's not important. Just brace yourself for a transmat." She was about to open her mouth to ask something before blue light surrounded them, and she fell onto the floor of the ship that had been waiting to recover them. A pair of magnetic handcuffs were unexpectedly placed on her wrists before she could resist.

"Hey, I thought you said that I wasn't being arrested!" He nodded. "Don't worry, you're not. But I don't trust you to not make a move to escape. Just wait until we've had a long chat with the Vanguards, and those babies will come right off." She sat back down on the deck of the ship, resigning to the strange turn of events that had just occurred to her life.

-X-

The Warlock led her down the steps into a hall of sorts. She'd been escorted from the hangar with a Titan on each side, and the Warlock taking point. As she'd passed by other Guardians and people who worked in the tower, they stared at her and whispered to one another. Obviously her presence her was not a surprise, but was something important. Why? What did she have that was of interest to the Guardians?

Finally, the hallway opened into a chamber that held an indented pit with a long table. Three people stood at the table, one on each of the far ends, and one on the left adjacent side. The closest one to her and her captors was a black woman with buzzed hair, who turned at the sound of their footsteps. The other two, an Awoken man in Titan armor and a hooded Exo followed suit and let their gazes fall upon Scorch.

"We finally found her. She was gambling and participating in a sparrow race near the outskirts." The woman's eyes widened slightly. "Gambling? I wouldn't have expected that, but good work Eager."

Scorch stood there, waiting to be addressed. There were a few moment's of silence before the Exo broke it, "Not a very talkative one, is she?"

She glared at him. "What reason do I have to talk? What do you people want from me?" Her tone was quite hostile, and was easily sensed by the Vanguards. The Awoken man attempted to calm her. "Young one, we mean you no harm. If you'll kindly listen, we can explain everything much faster."

Scorch gave a small sigh to settle herself and said slowly and clearly, "Fine. I'll listen." The man nodded, and began introductions; "My name is Zavala, commander of the Titans and city task force. This is Ikora Rey," he gestured to the woman closest to Scorch, "and this is Cayde-6, more commonly called Cayden." The Exo nodded, and waved. "How you doin'?

She nodded. "I know who you people are, you're the leaders of the Guardians. The Vanguards." Ikora nodded. "That is correct, young one." Scorch faced her. "None of you have ever cared about me before, why do you care about me now?"

Ikora opened her mouth to answer, but Cayde held his hand up to stop her. "Whoa, whoa. What do you mean, 'before'?"

The Vanguards stood waiting for an answer, and Scorch could only marvel at how seemingly ignorant they were of her, of her situation. She narrowed her eyes and spoke. "In the 'Battle for the Traveler', I lost my parents, my neighbors, my home. I lost everything that day, everything and everyone I ever cared about. The only reason I even lived was because of several Guardians who saved my life from a group of Fallen, though I still was left with this." She held her left hand, still trapped with the other in handcuffs, up to her respective cheek, and pointed at the long scar across her face.

Cayde slapped his face. "Of course, that's where she gets her namesake! I was wondering why it was such an odd name-" He silence himself at the glare of Ikora, who then turned back to Scorch and said softly, "Continue."

"I thought that working to protect the city as a Guardian had to be the greatest service that anyone could offer, but I was wrong. Despite my requests for help, nobody ever responded. I wrote, I tried many times to contact anyone, but I was left to the streets, to grow up on my own with nothing but my wit and thievery to keep me from starving." The Vanguards seemed taken aback. "Why, we never-"

"For _years_ , I endured the cold winters, sleeping outside without anyone to take care of me." She shrugged. "I figured that there had to be a better way to live, and so I joined sparrow-racing. The pay was little, though at least I was able to afford food, an actual apartment. As I got better and entered more races, the earnings grew until they became my steady source of income." She pointed with her locked hands at the Vanguards. "And not once in all the years I survived on the streets did I ever hear that help might come, that someone might come along to take care of me. And I'm not the only one who got screwed over, there are plenty of others like me who just had bad luck." She laughed loudly, but without mirth. "So, excuse me if I find it slightly ironic and funny that the people who never once tried to assist me are now asking me for help."

The Vanguards were silent, speechless at what she'd said. Not one person said a word until a voice from behind her said, "I'm so terribly sorry, Scorch. I truly am."

Everyone in the room looked to see a man in white robes and a masked face behind Scorch and her escort, the Speaker. He walked around her and down the steps to the Vanguard's table, speaking softly all the while. "But there are greater things at stake here, for the present moment. Greater than even we could have predicted."

Cayde nodded. "Yup, that about sums it up. By the way Speaker, the body's been built and is ready to go." The Speaker acknowledge him with a curt nod of the head saying, "Thank you, Cayde." He turned to Ikora. "Perhaps it is better for her to understand by simply hearing the message itself?" The Warlock Vanguard nodded, and faced Scorch. "We received a message, one of two components that was in a transmission originating from somewhere inside Venus. You might want to take a listen."

She held out a device to Scorch, presumably an audio device. Scorch hesitated, not wanting to unknowingly agree to something she didn't know about, but her sixth sense kicked in. She felt a strong urge- no, a _need_ to listen to that message. Reaching out her hands, she grabbed the device from Ikora, and brought it close to her. There was a screen on it, and she pressed the play button.

Staticky sound began to emit from the speakers, and it was hard to make out what the person was saying. "…lost are here, the lost… rescue… urgent mission… darker than any of us could…." The audio quality was terrible, punctuated by intermittent pauses and audio jumps that prevented them from making complete sense of the message. Scorch was only slightly intrigued at first before the message's next words played; "…Scorch, find Scorch and she… save…child of light, the Balance, it all makes sense…their last chance… wait… my God, it's opening! We're-" The message abruptly ended, and Scorch was left with more questions than answers.

"That's as audibly clear as we could make the quality when we unscrambled the transmission," said Zavala, shaking his head. "We are left in the dark to decipher its contents, but we have several guesses as to what this could mean." Scorch looked over at him. "You do? Because I don't. Whoever this is, they apparently know me. I don't understand what that 'child of light' and 'balance' stuff is, though. I'm not sure what help I could be to you."

The Speaker look up at her, and tilted his head. "You could be of the greatest help. While we may not know for certain, there are several clues that have piqued my curiosity each time I listen." He walked over to her, and held her in his gaze. "Firstly, you are asked for by name, so whether it is of convenience or not, you are tied in to this mystery. How vital to the mystery depends on what course of action you would like to take." She cocked her head to the side in surprise. "I have a choice?"

"Oh yes," he said nodding. "You could simply hear us out and we would tell you what our plan going forward with this is. Even then, you would still have a choice. Or, you could leave now, and return to your current life. I will do all in my power to ensure that you are properly compensated and given more appropriate living conditions, as well as the other individuals whom you spoke of. I assure you, it was not our intent to leave citizens trapped homeless and alone on the streets."

It sounded like a good deal, one that she would have ordinarily taken under any other circumstances; free money, a better home, and possibly a chance for her to quit sparrow-racing. No matter how much she enjoyed it, she knew that it wasn't a great long-term plan. The offer seemed almost too good to be true.

"Take it." Spectre materialized into existence in front of her, and shocked everyone. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that," came the voice of the Warlock Exo who she now knew was named Eager. "You- you have a Ghost?" questioned Ikora, at a loss for words. Spectre faced the Vanguard and vibrated slightly to show his resentment. "Yes, she does, thank you for your clever observation." His sarcastic stone caused the Vanguards to stare at him, slightly affronted at his blunt nature. He turned back to Scorch. "Look, you're not going to find a better deal again. This is your chance to start moving on up, get a fresh start like you've wanted!"

His words made sense to her, but there it was again. That feeling. She looked at him with a pleading look in his eye. He moved from side to side, anxiously. "No, don't say what I think you're going to say." She gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, you know I can't control it." Spectre groaned. "I really hate that sense of yours sometimes."

Eager leaned forward slightly. "I'm sorry, what sense is this again?" Scorch shook her head. "It's not important." But now everyone was waiting to hear an explanation, and she silently cursed Spectre for bringing it up. Drawing in a deep breath, she explained, "It's like… a feeling I get that tells me what to do, almost a sixth sense. I can just tell when I'm supposed to do something, what I'm supposed to do, and how to do it. I don't know how to explain it." The Speaker looked thoughtful. "There's no need, I already know. Now, it may be I who has to explain to you."

He began to pace, as though he were putting pieces of a puzzle together himself as he showed her how to connect everything. "There was a prophecy, centuries ago. Long before I had even come into this world, the Warlocks had attempted to decipher messages from the Traveler in its dormant state, seeking guidance in the dark times of the Collapse. What they found was a divination; one that foretold the coming of a child of light, someone who would initiate the Balance, an event that would bring order and equality to the scales of light and dark."

"What's a child of light?" asked Scorch. The Speaker looked at her, and shrugged. "As I said, you have two choices. I can't tell you anything more unless you promise to hear what we have to say in all of its completion." Scorch bit her lip, and thought to herself. Her feeling was still there, practically begging her to listen. Who was she to deny it now, when it hadn't failed her before? "Okay. Now what's a child of light?"

The Speaker made a small nod to her escorts, and Eager moved in front of her to reach down, and take off the magnetic cuffs. She rubbed her wrists, trying to move blood back into circulation as he retreated back to his spot behind her.

Walking down to the Vanguard table, the Speaker rested his hand upon the end of it. "Children of light are people whose souls have been directly created or touched by the Traveler itself. With constant exposure to the Traveler and its light, it is only natural that as with radiation fallout, some members of the population may become altered by its power. They are more in tune with the flow of light, more aware of fluctuations within the energy that flows around us." He pointed at her. "Your sixth sense, as you call it, is a symptom of that. Even now, it guides you to make the choices that will lead you towards your destiny."

She raised an eyebrow. "You mean it guides me, tells me how to succeed at stuff?" He shook his head. "No. Everyone has a fate which awaits them at the end of their life. How one ends up there is up to the individual. But your guidance will help show you the path which will lead you to your destiny in the most efficient ways; whether it's making a choice between two life-changing decisions, or simply telling you how to survive so that you can make it to the next day, it will always be there, whispering in your ear."

"In recorded history, there have been three other known children of light. The first died long ago, our only records consisting of how he seemed to wield the light more adeptly than anyone had ever seen before. The second of course, is me." She raised her eyebrows. "If you're a child of light, why haven't you tried to fulfill the prophecy?"

"Oh, I did long ago, when I was just as young- maybe younger than you are." He shook his head. "I was such a fool, allowing pride to rush to my head. I set out without even the faintest clue of what I was supposed to be doing. When I returned, I realized my true calling. I am the least powerful of the known children of light, and as such I am just a servant of the Traveler. I talk with it, commune with it. I know my place; I am not the one of the prophecy." He extended his hand palm up, gesturing to Scorch. "You, however…. your place is not yet known."

She held up her own hand, signaling him to stop for a moment. "Hold on. Who was the third child of light?" Immediately, silence filled the room. Her escort behind her muttered, "Jeez, touchy subject I'm assuming." Evidently, he nor the other two had any idea about any of this.

Ikora looked up gravely as Scorch. "The third child of light was one whose name has become legend, someone to be feared. I warn new Guardians each time that there are those that the light was never meant to touch. He is the reason for that." Scorch crossed her arms. "Who was it?"

Ikora whispered, "The Consumed." There was a gasp from the three Guardians surrounding her, and even Scorch knew the legend of the the Consumed. "I thought that was just a myth?" she asked, her voice suddenly small. Cayde shook his head.

"No, he's very real. Before we gave him that rather descriptive title, he was a Guardian known as Kaine. He was a child of light just like you, except that he decided to ignore his destiny. He believed that he shouldn't be chained to one path of fate, and that true power was being able to defy time and destiny itself." Cayde scoffed. "Turned into a damn lunatic, he did. Got much closer to the Darkness than even he could have predicted, and before he knew it, he was more corrupted than Dredgen Yor."

"He is an example of our failure," said Ikora, changing the subject. "You will not end up like him, should you proceed from this point." Scorch nodded, trusting the Warlock's sincerity for the moment. "Alright. Now what about the rest of the message? What does me being a child of light have to do with any of this?"

The Speaker raised a finger, as though she'd gotten an answer right. "Ah, now that's the question isn't it? You see, I can understand the individual parts of the message, but not how they fit together. It's as though I were solving a puzzle with only corner pieces. From what I can gather, you're supposed to go on a mission of some kind. Now as for what kind of mission, we believe we know the answer." Zavala took over, expanding on the Speaker's thoughts. "We lost a team of Guardians a little over five years ago, and to this day haven't the slightest clue what happened to them. They were however, the best of the best, so whatever it was that caused their disappearance is powerful indeed."

"Who were they?" asked Scorch. She'd hear rumors of a legendary team of Guardians go missing, but she'd never believed them to hold truth until now. Zavala gave her a sad sort of expression, one that suggested he had a bond with these Guardians not just as a mentor, but as a friend. "They were the saviors of the city, the only reason the Traveler is still around today. Their names were Matt, Ash, and Aria. In recent years, they were commonly referred to as 'the Heroes', an honorary title in recognition of their accomplishments."

Scorch recognized those names, and she tried to remember where she'd heard them before. Suddenly, the memory of her near-death experience at hands of the Fallen, the one that had given her the namesake, 'Scorch', surfaced. It had been them who saved her that day. She remembered the Hunter calling the Warlock Aria, and his Ghost referring to him as Matt. Ash had been mentioned by the Ghost at some point, and before she knew it she had been dropped off at the base of the tower. She still remembered Aria's parting words to her; _If you have to be something, be brave._

Scorch swallowed hard as Zavala continued. "One day, they embarked on a secret mission, one that not even we were told about. We noticed their disappearance after a week, but had figured that they were caught in the middle of some quest. A year later, after several search parties and expeditions, there was still no trace of them." He sighed deeply, then stood a little straighter. "But now, we may have a lead. We believe that the transmission came from them, no matter how unlikely it is that they're even alive at this point."

Scorch felt a bit confused. "Wait, what makes you think it's them?" Cayde held up two fingers on his hand. "Two reasons. One is the message. It refers to 'the lost' being there, wherever _there_ is, and something being 'their last chance'. With the word 'rescue' in there as well, I think it's safe to say that whoever it was needs help. Now, the only lost we know of are those Guardians, and if we interpret the message correctly, you apparently might very well be their last chance for survival. You can see why we might be a bit eager to get you." He leaned to the side a bit to wave at the task force Warlock. "No pun intended, Eager!"

He faced Scorch again, and his voice had returned to its serious state. "The second clue is data fragment that we've been very cautious about using. But at this point, we're kinda out of options, so we're giving it a chance." He grabbed a radio on his belt, and brought it up to his face. "Reed, bring in the body please." A moment later came an emotionless response that Scorch assumed was from a Frame saying, "Affirmative, Sir."

Cayde clipped the radio back on his belt and sighed. "Whatever happens, this is gonna be crazy. Either crazy good, or crazy bad. Maybe a bit of both."

A few seconds later, Scorch heard the sound of servos and motors whirring behind her. Spinning around, she saw a Frame transporting a hovering table of sorts, almost like a hospital bed. It maintained a height of about three and a half feet in the air, and on top of it was a metallic figure. Scorch moved in to get a closer look.

"Who is this?" she asked, referring to the body before her. It was a female Exo, its paint scheme consisting of white and silver, with the white covering most of the body. Cayde pointed to the body. "You mean that? Nobody, at least not yet. Although the body has been built to resemble, albeit with some modifications I recommended, the likeness of Ash, the Exo Titan on their team." Ikora looked at him and asked, "Modifications Cayde?" He looked at her blankly before his eyes widened and he protested loudly, "No, no! Nothing like that at all. I just meant that it's not going to be an identical twin of Ash. An extra plate here, a bit less sheeting there, you know. There might be a few features that differ between the two."

Ikora nodded, satisfied. "Alright then. Are we ready?" Scorch held up her hands. "Wait, I'm lost. Are we ready for what? What are we doing?" Cayde held up an electronic chip.

"You see this? It holds the data fragment we were sent, but it's not just any fragment. It's a person. Do you remember tales of the Warrior?" Scorch nodded. "Of course I do, I was told stories as a kid. Why?" He shrugged slightly, as if to take blame off himself should she find fault with what he had to say next. "Well you see, Ash used to be the Warrior before she lost her memory, and became a completely different personality. The Warrior actually gave up her body so that the persona of Ash could live on." He pointed at the chip. "And this thing?" Scorch nodded slowly.

"This is the second clue. The person in the data fragment is the soul of the Warrior."


	18. Destiny Awaits

"That's the Warrior's soul?!" Scorch now looked at the chip with apprehension. "What kind of shit have you all gotten yourselves into?"

Cayde held up his hand to calm her. "Perhaps I misspoke! When I say it's her soul, I mean mostly an echo of it. It's definitely her, but with… pieces missing. From what I've been able to analyze of it, the fragment has no memories, just a directive and basic knowledge of the situation." He shrugged. "How much of the situation it actually knows, we won't find out until we test it." He turned to the other Vanguards. "Are we ready to do this?"

They nodded, and with their approval behind him, he walked over to the body and raised its head off the floating stretcher by placing his fingers under its neck, and lifting. "I'm just gonna insert the chip for a few seconds, and pull it out. The consciousness of the fragment should move into the body naturally, and then we'll get some answers."

With the chip in between his forefinger and thumb, Cayde slipped the chip into a slot in the back of its head. He waited a few moments, and then removed it. "There, that should be all it needs. Let's see what-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, the sound of motors and servos coming to life was heard coming from the body. Blue lights began to wink on, lighting up parts of the arms and legs. The body began to move and stir slightly. After a moment, the eyes opened and were revealed to be a piercing blue color.

"There, you see?" The head moved to look at the source of Cayde's voice. "Told you it'd be-" Like a snake, an arm shot out and gripped the Hunter Vanguard by the throat. It sat up from the stretcher, and lifted him slightly above the ground.

"She's- got- a bit- of a kick- doesn't she-?" he choked out. Various individuals around the room began to raise their weapons, namely the task force guards and Ikora Rey charging up her void energy, but the Speaker lifted his hands and yelled, "No! Do not attack!"

For a moment it seemed as though the Speaker was crazy, but a moment later the body unexpectedly released Cayde, and he fell to the ground, immediately standing back up and retreating a few paces while rubbing his throat region. The now inhabited Exo raised her hands to her face, and looked at them for a few moments. Raising her gaze, it fell upon the Speaker.

"Scorch. I need to find Scorch." Surprisingly quickly, she hopped off the stretcher and approached him. "Where is she? It is of absolute importance!"

"I'm Scorch!" Scorch called out, hoping to draw her attention. She turned around to look at her, and Scorch felt as though she were being sized up by the Exo. She walked over to Scorch and began to speak frantically, "We don't have much time, there's so much to do! We need-" Scorch held up her hands to stop her. "Alright, alright. I get it, but you need to calm down a bit and explain. We're a bit in the dark as to what's going on, and your behavior is freaking us out a bit."

The Exo's movement was somewhat reminiscent of a child who had eaten too much sugar. She bounced up and down on her feet, and appeared to be quite anxious. Nonetheless, she attempted to control herself as Scorch had suggested, and the next time she spoke, it was quite calm; "I apologize, I did not realize."

Turning around, her eyes found Cayde standing near the Speaker, looking wary of her. "To you as well, I'm sorry. I did not know what to expect when I woke up, and just reacted as though I were in danger." The Hunter waved at her. "That's alright, I forgive you. We can keep talking, just, you know, with you over there." She nodded her understanding of the Hunter's reluctance, and faced the spectators around her.

"I am not the person you think I am, or at least not completely." She moved her eyes over each person, locking gazes with everyone one at a time. "I am the persona of the Warrior, but I am merely an echo. All I know is what the other persona allowed me to know." Zavala interrupted, "Other persona? You mean Ash?" The Exo nodded. "Yes. Until now, I was just a fragment of data in the back of her mind." Cayde clapped, and raised both his arms into the air. "Well then, that proves it! They have to be alive! Or, at least Ash anyway."

The Exo's features seemed as though it was feeling consternation, and struggling with its thoughts. "I am only aware of certain things, such as who you all are, though it is taking some effort to recognize you; it's as though I am pulling up a faint memory from long ago."

The Speaker tilted his head in thought. "Perhaps the transmission's corruption led to some corruption of your persona as well. What do you know? Can you tell us what happened to Ash and her fireteam?" The Exo looked down, an expression of concentration on her face. Shaking her head, she looked back up. "I'm sorry again, but I'm not quite sure. Perhaps, like you said, some of the info was lost. I can't remember many things that Ash has done at all. Everything feels hazy to me." She raised a finger on one hand. "There are, however, several things I do know."

She began to pace around the room, others making space for her as she walked near them. "Firstly, Ash and the others are in trouble. I was sent as help, to act as a guide for those who would search for them, and bring rescue." She shook her head at the questions she could see on the Vanguards' faces. "No, I don't know what trouble they're in, only that it is very Dark, and very powerful. Darker than anything even the original Warrior, my predacessor had ever seen."

She spun around, and began to walk in the other direction. "Secondly, I know that Scorch is supposed to be the one who leads the search." She looked at Scorch, and pointed at her. "You are a child of light, the one meant to bring about the Balance." Suddenly, she brought both of her hands up the sides of her head, and closed her eyes tightly, as though she was suffering a massive pain.

"The Balance… it has everything to do with Scorch, with them! If I could only remember…!" A moment later, she opened her eyes and practically shouted, "TIME! The Balance isn't just limited to the light and dark, it has something to do with the fabric of time itself!"

Now Cayde crossed his arms. "That seems a bit far fetched. I mean, time? You can't change time, it's already happened." The Exo shook her head at him. "No, time is written, but it is written with pencil, not ink. They… they discovered something, something that can re-write it, _rewrite time itself._ "

Zavala shook his head slowly. "For five years we've waited without answer, and now you present a very odd solution indeed. I'm not quite sure of how anything could possibly exist in the way you speak of."

The Exo glared at him. "Believe it or not, it is the truth. And I will not stay here as they die!" She looked at the Speaker. "This is my purpose of being, to help them. Would you all honestly risk a chance to save them over a slight disbelief of truth?" All were silent for a moment, and then Cayde surprised everyone by saying, "Hell no. You have a point, if there's even a slight chance to get them back, we're gonna take it. I said it when Ash and Aria galavanted off to save the Spark, I'm gonna say it now; _we don't leave Guardians behind._ "

Ikora sighed. "You're right." She faced the Exo. "We will do everything in our power to help you."

She shook her head. "Not me. _Her._ " She gestured to Scorch, and Scorch jerked her head, taken aback. "As I said, you are the one supposed to lead the search. I'm not sure why myself, but I know that much." Scorch rubbed her temple with her forefinger and thumb. "This is a lot to take in, I'll admit. And I'm not really sure how to deal with it."

Nobody said a word for a moment. Then Ikora softly said, "There is one way you could start." Scorch glanced over at her. "And what would that be?"

"Become a Guardian," she finished, "and fulfill your destiny as a child of light; as the bringer of the Balance."

Scorch didn't know how to react. Before her life on the streets, she'd only wanted to be a Guardian- to be one of the people who would save others as she'd been saved. But now, with her terrible experiences concerning the last few years still a reality of her life, she wasn't sure she wanted to be one.

She thought back to what Aria had said, and how she'd based her survival and everything she did on that one saying; be brave. Right now, she needed to be brave. With very slow movement, she closed her eyes, and nodded.

"Even after all you've been through?" came Spectre's voice, and she opened her eyes to see him looking at her like he was seeing her for the first time. "You don't owe them anything!" She pursed her lips. "Actually, I do. The missing Guardians are the ones that saved me seven years ago, during the Battle for the Traveler. I'm in their debt, and you know me. I don't leave debts unpaid." The Ghost vibrated slightly, then hovered over to her shoulder. "Well, then I guess that's it. I know how stubborn you can be, there's no arguing with you here."

Zavala piped up, "I'm proud of your choice, Scorch. Not many others in your same situation would have done the same." She shrugged. "Normally, I wouldn't have either. But this isn't a normal situation." The Titan accepted this, and did not comment. Instead, he moved on with, "All we need to do is perform a test, something to determine what class of Guardian you belong to." Scorch nodded, and waited for the next instructions.

"Empty your mind, Scorch. Allow yourself to picture a source of energy, an aura of power. Think of what it looks like, how it feels, how it acts." Scorch did what she was told to do, and tried to think of something. With her eyes closed, there wasn't anything she could see but blackness. It was quite calming and -

A spark of light. Something appeared in her vision, dim at first, but growing brighter. Brighter…

"I see… purple. Purple streaks of light that dance around, surrounding my body. It looks like-" " A vortex?" interrupted Ikora. "A Shield?" added Zavala, hopefully.

"No," she responded. "It looks like a bow, like a bow of purple light." She opened her eyes with a gasp to see Ikora and Zavala staring at her with raised eyebrows. Slowly, they both turned to Cayde, who seemed just as shocked as they were. "You saw… what now?"

"A bow," she repeated. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Seven years ago, after Ash and Aria had come back from their mission to save the Spark, they told us how they had unlocked new- or rather old, very old- abilities. What you're talking about is a Nightstalker. We asked them to show the other Guardians, and hopefully have some new strength amongst the masses, but only a very small amount of people ever mastered them. Not once have we ever had a natural Nightstalker since I've been a Vanguard." He gestured to her. "But now, you've come along. Welcome to the ranks, Hunter."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card of some kind. "This here is my "I-owe-you" card. Give it to the Cryptarch, and he'll set you up with some proper gear." Spectre flew forward, and dematerialized it. "I'll take that." Cayde raised his arms halfway in the air, and made a face as though he were saying, _What the hell?_

"Anyway," he said, trying to forget about the Ghost's odd behavior, "that should about cover what you'll need. After all, you've already got a Ghost apparently." He pointed at Spectre with a look of dislike, and continued, "If you'd like, we can provide living quarters here-" "No thanks," Scorch interrupted, "I'll be fine at my apartment." Cayde shrugged. "Alright, suit yourself. Now, about you." He looked over at the Exo who had been listening to the exchange silently. "From what I can gather, you're not the Warrior, not truly anyway. And you're definitely not Ash, but you kind of need a name other than, 'the Exo'. Any ideas?"

She pondered this for a moment. "It is true, I'm not the Warrior or Ash. I am something new, something…" She said softly, "Something unencountered before."

In an instant, she brought her head up. "I am the dawn of something new, so that is what I will be called; Dawn." Cayde nodded approvingly. "That's a good name. I thought we might be here for a while, I was told it took Ash quite a while to think of her name."

Dawn looked at Scorch, and made a fist in a sign of loyalty. "I will be your guide when you need me Scorch, but you are the one meant to find them. I know that you'll do well." Scorch nodded in appreciation, but realized something. She brought up a point to Cayde; "Wait, aren't fireteams supposed to have at least three members?"

He nodded. "You're right. But, I'm not sure who-" Scorch quickly turned and pointed at the task force Warlock. "Him." "Me?" He asked, stunned. She nodded reproachfully. "You owe me after shooting my sparrow, so this is the least you can do." Eager looked like he was about to argue, but decided against it. "Alright. I'm sure that this will be a lot of… fun." He said fun with a bit of stress on the word, insinuating quite obviously that 'fun' was not the real word he had in mind.

Cayde clapped his hands. "Well, that's decided then. The task force will take you home, and we'll meet back here in the morning. It's been a long day."

-X-

Scorch walked up the steps to her building's door with Dawn, who had insisted that she accompany Scorch. She was fine with it, but it was definitely going to be odd to have a companion that followed you everywhere. Dawn didn't really have anywhere else to go though, so Scorch hadn't argued.

Walking to the end of the hallway to which the doorway led into, she began to ascend the stairs to the second level, Dawn's footsteps following close behind. Once on the second floor, she walked down three doors until she reached the third room on the left, and reached into her pocket. The one item she was always able to keep track of was her room-key since it never left her pocket. Opening the door, she walked in and flopped down on the couch. Dawn looked at her.

"What is our first move?" Scorch glanced upward with a raised eyebrow. "Our first move? I don't know about you, but I'm gonna sleep. Earlier today, I was an illegal sparrow-racer. Now, I'm a Guardian who's supposed to be some kind of legend, a child of light meant to bring about the Balance, an event which somehow ties into three missing Guardians' disappearance, Guardians who saved my life nearly seven years ago." She sighed. "Like Cayde said, it's been a long day. I'm catching some shut eye."

She gestured over to another couch. "If you need to sleep, you can use the other couch or the bed in my room. I'm not getting up from here until I've had some rest, so feel free to choose either."

Dawn glanced over at the couch, and decided that it would suffice. She looked back to thank Scorch, but the newly-made Guardian was already sleeping. Shuffling over to the couch, Dawn laid down upon it, and thought back on the day so far. She still could not quite remember several details of her mission, but she was sure that she and Scorch would find out together. She wished she could tell Scorch what the girl was meant for, what she was meant to do, but the information eluded her probing mind. Closing her eyes, she resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going to remember very soon, and let herself drift off to sleep.


	19. Seeker's Inheritance

Scorch yawned as she and Dawn entered the Hall of Guardians. In her hand was a cup of coffee she'd picked up from a store near her apartment. Cayde turned at the sound of her footsteps approaching, and welcomed her. "Hey, great to see you! There's a lot we need to go over, so I'm glad you came somewhat early."

She glanced around the otherwise empty room. "Where are the others?" He gestured at where Zavala and Ikora usually stood. "You mean them? They're out doing something, I think investigating some kind of landing accident in the hangar. Doesn't matter. I'm here because we need to go over a game plan here."

She walked over, taking a sip from her cup as she did so. Dawn stood nearby, looking around the room curiously, waiting to be addressed should the need arise. Cayde pointed at the coffee cup in Scorch's hand. "Can I see that for a second?" She handed it over to him with a quizzical look on her face. The Hunter held the cup up to his mouth, and began to sip from it. A moment later, he handed the cup back to Scorch who stood silent in disbelief. "Thanks for that, that's the good stuff. Coffee around the tower just never seems to taste as good."

With that out of the way, Cayde looked back at the table and brought out a map of some landscape that Scorch was unfamiliar with. "I've talked with Amanda Holliday, the Shipwright here. Due to the nature of the mission, she's more than happy to lend you and your…" He searched for a proper word. " _…companions,_ ships. One for each of you, and they're pretty fast. She's also providing a good stock of sparrows for your use since you'll be covering a lot of ground." Scorch faced him with an eyebrow raised. "We will?"

Cayde nodded. He jabbed his finger at the map lying on the table. "This is a chart of the Ishtar Region. The transmission came from somewhere within the mantle of Venus, underground. But we managed to triangulate its position to somewhere in this vicinity. Your job," he said pointing at her, "is to get down there, and start investigating. Whatever they were doing, the Heroes were definitely involved with something dangerous. Find some clues, narrow down possibilities, and see where this takes you."

Scorch just stared at him. "That's almost nothing to go on! How do you expect me to track down a group of people without knowing anything?" He shrugged. "That's why we've had such difficulties in the past, there's no info to go on. All of our trails ended up running cold. The only thing we ever managed to find was a large collection of Vex bodies that were apparently killed by them at some point before they disappeared." Scorch gestured at the map. "And where was that?" "Right…" Cayde indicated a spot on the map labeled 'Waking Ruins', "here. If you find something else there, hats off to you, but we combed through that area many times before. We couldn't pick up any sign of the Heroes' presence."

Scorch sighed. "Alright, thanks." Cayde looked over to the side and called, "Dawn! Could you come over here please?" She walked over, questioning. "What do you need?"

He leaned against his arm on the table, giving off an air of being somewhat impatient. "Is there anything you can tell us that might point in a certain direction for you guys to take? Anything at all?" Dawn looked over at the map. "What is this area here?" She indicated a spot that appeared to lay inland of the coast. "That? That's where the Ishtar Academy used to be. Some of the greatest minds of the Golden Age worked there." Dawn began to nod vigorously. "I'm not sure what, but something about that place is involved."

Cayde clapped his hands in an official sort of way. "Good enough for me. Scorch, you'd better go pick up your gear from Master Rahool. He's a nice guy, but can be a bit… vague. If for some reason, you find yourself with something you didn't ask for, call him out on it."

With that odd bit of advice, Cayde looked back to the maps, and began to mark areas of interest. With nothing else to do, Scorch walked out of the chamber, Dawn acting as her shadow.

-X-

"No, no. That rune means 'sun', so then this one has to either be a synonym or a relative term. 'Star', perhaps?" The Cryptarch mumbled to himself as he struggled to understand what a certain set of scrolls meant, and how they should be deciphered. He was often given puzzles and tasks from the Guardians that had grown fond of him, and he enjoyed challenges that could potentially help the war effort.

"Hello?" Turning around, the Cryptarch found himself looking at a young woman who stood outside his stand in the tower plaza. He looked her over, noticing that instead of a Guardian's armor, she wore slightly worn out jeans with a hooded jacket, and fingerless gloves. Probably someone who didn't really care about what others thought of her appearance. He straightened up, and greeted her. "Good morning. How may I be of assistance?"

Scorch held out the card that Cayde had given her yesterday. "This is from Cayde-6. He says I need some gear for a mission I'm taking on." The Cryptarch looked at the card, and sighed. "I'm not really fond of these exchanges, but they usually are necessary ones for dire circumstances. I'm more than willing to help the Vanguard when I am called upon. What class?"

She looked blank for a second, then her face lit up with enlightenment of his question. "Oh, I'm a Hunter." Turning around, he looked through a storage container and brought out an odd looking object, a dodecahedron. It was purple in color, and glowed softly. She raised an eyebrow and looked at the Cryptarch.

"What is this?" He cocked his head. "It's an engram. Do you not know about engrams?" She shook her head, and he sighed. "Ah well, I suppose living in the city can't expose you to everything. Well, it's quite simple to explain. Engrams are a fourth state of matter, one that items and objects, no matter the mass, can be converted into given the right hand in Cryptarchy." Placing his fingers upon the purple dodecahedron, he began to move them slightly, running his hands along several edges, and generally being very careful.

Suddenly, it flashed and began to take a shape. Resting in the palm of his hand was now a helmet, a very fine looking one at that. Scorch's eyes widened at the spectacle in front of her. "Well that's… new."

"Not really," said a voice from behind her. She and Dawn turned around to see Eager slowly walking the last few steps until he stood next to them. "What are you doing here? I figured you'd be out doing, you know, task force stuff." He shook his head. "Now that I'm apart of your team thanks to your extremely rash and quick decision, I was immediately reassigned to helping you. I was just looking through informational archives we have on Venus. Figured that we might as well be prepared." He nodded his head towards the helmet resting in the Cryptarch's hand. "The whole cryptarchy stuff is pretty common, by the way. Damn useful though. We find anything that we need info about or need to decode, he's our guy."

The Cryptarch nodded. "That's right, I will be your guide when it comes to comprehending the hidden secrets that engrams and encoded documents hold. Here's the helmet." Scorch grabbed the helmet from his outstretched hand, and analyzed it. "That model is Sanction Six, one of the finer looking helmets if I do say so myself. And here-" He reached behind him and brought forward the small box of engrams that he'd been looking through earlier, "-is the rest of the set. Just allow me to decode them for you."

Roughly five minutes and a large amount of decrypting later, Scorch was the proud owner of a set of gold and white colored amor. "Its color scheme is 'bloodpact', but you can change it later if you wish." Scorch raised her eyebrow, a common expression for her these days. "Change it later?" The Cryptarch nodded. "Just speak to the Guardian outfitter, and she can repaint your armor from a selection of color schemes."

Scorch shook her head, and faced Eager. "Seven years ago, we were on the brink of extinction. But now that we're in a comfortable position, Guardians apparently care about fashion more than fighting. Do you understand now why I had very little respect for you all?" She walked away as the Warlock searched in his mind for something to say in retaliation, but could not as he was completely flabbergasted at her odd question.

"Anyway," he began, attempting to change the subject, "You should probably go talk to Cayde. I was just there, and he told me he forgot to give you something." Scorch retreating back sighed in exasperation. Dawn shrugged. "It might be important. Go ahead and see what he wants, I'm going to grab my own gear." Eager looked at her. "And how do you know what class you are?" She glared at him with a condescending expression, and responded with a sarcastic tone, "Maybe because I'm pretty much a copy of another person? I'm probably going to have some similarities. Titan appears to run in the soul."

Eager looked slightly sheepish, and turned away. Scorch left them both to discuss whatever, and began to make her way towards somewhere she could change.

-X-

The Hunter Vanguard glanced upward after he detected the shadow approaching him. His gaze found Scorch looking at him expectantly. "Ah, I see you got your armor. How's it feeling?" She looked over herself, having taken the time to get fully geared up. "Well, it's more comfortable than I expected it to be. It's fine." Cayde nodded. "That's good, usually there's not much room for any consideration other than efficiency on the battlefield. Come over here, I wanted to talk to you about something." He motioned for her to follow him, and he walked over to the wall next to the opening of the Hall.

Built into the wall was a glass case of sorts. Inside was a shelf that held three glass pedestals, each of them in turn holding a different weapon. To the right of the window was a large blue computer screen, one that Cayde began typing something into. Scorch looked at the guns more carefully and noticed several details about them. All three were hand cannons, and each had their own unique characteristics. The one on the right was black in color, dark and wicked looking. It had sharp ridges running along its sides and top. She felt uneasy looking at it, as though it were a poisonous object to gaze upon.

The one on the left was of a more intricate craft. Most of the gun was a dark grey color, but the slide and most of the top was a brilliant timberwolf-white color. Engraved at the front end was a feather design pattern, giving character to the gun. Two sights were made to curve upward in a wing-like fashion, and there was a wicked hook on the butt of the handle. It looked like a beautiful weapon, and even Scorch had to appreciate the artistry involved with creating such a firearm.

The last was positioned in the middle. The bottom of the barrel was black, but the top of the slide was gold. The handle itself was a glossy brown and almost appeared to be made of wood, though Scorch suspected this was just an aesthetic characteristic. It looked similar to some of the Golden Age relics that people had managed to find every couple of years or so, almost as though the gun were made to give off a classic feel. It definitely looked powerful, that was for sure.

"As you might have guessed, these guns are kinda important. Y'know, the glass case and all." With an audible beep, the screen accepted whatever Cayde had typed in, and the pane of glass began to slide into the side, revealing the guns up close. He pointed at the sharp looking on first.

"That there, is the Thorn. It was the Messenger's weapon that he used against us, though it's not the first time we've encountered it. It was the same weapon that Dredgen Yor created from his original gun, the Rose. But after he became corrupted and began taking influence from the Hive's darkest powers, he twisted the Rose as well, and it became the Thorn. He murdered several Guardians with it until he was taken out by Shin Malphur using the Last Word. We'll get to that in a second. Anyway, I suppose that the Messenger managed to find it somewhere after Malphur hid it. Shin had said that nobody should ever become capable of wielding it again, but obviously whatever hiding place he picked wasn't good enough."

This time, Cayde reached in and pulled out the feather-design hand cannon. "Now this one here is something special. See, Matt, one of the Heroes, was a Hunter. And he had a reliable hand cannon, yeah, but he thought that perhaps he needed a weapon that more suited himself. So he begins forging this baby here, and though it took him forever, he actually managed to make a working prototype which turned into this, the Hawkmoon." He sighed contentedly. "Never has he made me prouder than when he showed this work of art off to me. A true Hunter's weapon."

He put the Hawkmoon in a holster at his side, and reached in to take out the final gun, the golden one. "Finally, we've got the Last Word. You heard me talk about Shin Malphur killing Dredgen Yor with it. Jaren Ward was the original owner, however. You see, he was a ruthless though very noble Guardian. This was his gun, his constant companion. He used to be friends with the man that Dredgen Yor used to be, and even tried to save Yor once the latter had become corrupted. But, things didn't pan out so well, and they parted ways as enemies. A few years later, he adopted Shin Malphur. Shin was an orphan living in the settlement of Palamon, and Ward became fond of him. Shin accompanied him for the rest of his travels until things went south."

Cayde shook his head sadly. "It's not truly known, but it's the most likely possibility that while Ward was away from one of their camps searching in the woods for something, Yor came back and killed him. All Malphur found was his gun, the Last Word. Swearing vengeance upon Jaren's killer, he ended up hunting down Yor and taking him out. He came to us, told us of Ward's story, and gave us the Last Word." He patted the hand cannon in admiration. "He said that it was too painful of a reminder for him, but someone worthier may come along and have need of it."

Scorch looked up from the gun into Cayde's face, and was startled to find that he was now staring directly at her. "That's where my need to talk to you comes into play. Firstly, I need a favor. Matt left the Hawkmoon in Banshee-44's care, he's the gunsmith here. The gun had become jammed with some kind of mechanical issue, and he didn't have time to fix it before he left on their mission. He said he'd grab it when he got back, but obviously that hasn't been the case. So it's sat here for five long years, collecting dust and reminding us all of the loss we suffered."

He pulled the Hawkmoon back out of the holster, and handed it to her. "If you don't mind, I'd love for you to return it to him when you find him. Call me a romantic, but I think it's been missing its owner for far too long." She looked it over, and nodded her agreement. Who was she to deny this to Cayde? It wouldn't hurt her in the slightest. "Spectre?" The Ghost appeared, and dematerialized the Hawkmoon, storing it for later. Cayde shook his head. "Still don't get your Ghost, but whatever. This is the second bit."

Now, he held the Last Word gingerly towards her, and Scorch ran her eyes over it hesitantly. "Malphur left this in our care for the next Guardian who was worthy of it. I think that's you. If you really are the child of light that's gonna bring about the Balance, it can't hurt to be well armed. Treat it with care." Scorch extended her hand towards it, and paused for a moment. Was she ready for this? Was she ready to follow her fate as the child of light?

Her guiding feeling came back to her, telling her that, _yes, she was ready. It was time for her to find her place in the world, and accept who she was._ Reaching forward the rest of the way, she gripped the Last Word by the handle, and lifted it upwards. It was well balanced, and felt light in her hands. Something about it in her possession seemed… right, somehow.

"Hey, where's your cloak?" Cayde looked around her in an attempt to find the fabric that should have been adorning her back and head. "My cloak?" "All Hunters wear cloaks, it's one of our trademarks. Almost a pride thing." She frowned. "That seems as though that'd be awfully inefficient in battle. You'd get tangled up all the time, and it'd blow around in whatever wind you came across." Cayde raised a finger. "Yes, but then you'd look freaking badass as it did." She just looked at him in disbelief. He waved his hand in dismissal.

"Well then, cloak-less Hunter, I think that about sums it up." Cayde gestured at the door. "Amanda will be waiting in the hangar with your ships, and your sparrows are all stowed away. I wish I could come with, but I've got other duties here. So, instead I wish you happy hunting." He saluted her, and walked back to the table. For the second time that day, Scorch left the Hall of Guardians, but this time she left it feeling confident, feeling as though she were finally coming to terms with this new life she'd been given.

She walked up the steps that led into the tower plaza, and spied Dawn, now fully dressed in her gear, conversing with Eager in the center. Dawn stopped talking as she spotted Scorch, and waved for her to join them. Complying, she walked over and greeted them. "What's up?"

Eager shrugged. "Nothing much, just discussing some of the info I picked up from the Archives. How about you? What did Cayde want?" She reached into the holster at her side, and pulled out the Last Word. If the Exo's eyes could possibly widen, they sure as hell were doing that. "Wait, he- he gave you the Last Word!? That's quite the honor, I have to say." He stopped, and said in a more serious tone, "I hope you know that, and uphold that honor." Scorch nodded, out of witty things to say. It was true, this wasn't something she could go off and flaunt around, it was a hero's weapon, and she planned on keeping it that way.

"What's the plan Scorch?" Dawn looked curiously at her, waiting for a response. Scorch thought for a moment. "Well, I'm gonna be blatantly honest, I've never been on Venus. I would recommend that we head there and scout out a bit before anything else. Get a lay of the land, you know what I mean." Dawn nodded. "That sounds logical. Lead the way." Scorch remembered what Cayde had said about their ships, and she knew where they were heading next.

-X-

Amanda Holliday retracted her hand from the Frame she was performing maintenance on. It came away greasy, but she had the corroded copper wire that needed replacing. Smiling to herself at the success, she set it down on the workbench next to her, and grabbed the wire she'd set aside as a substitute. Before she could begin work on the next phase however, she heard the sound of boots walking up the stairs to her workshop. She spun around to face her guests, and began hastily wiping black grease onto the metal-working apron she wore.

It was a young woman, a Hunter by the looks of the armor, followed by two Exo companions. One was a Warlock, and the other wore the signature armor of a Titan. She looked very familiar, though she couldn't place her finger on it-

Amanda gasped. "A- Ash? How- how are you here?" The Exo held up her hand to calm Amanda. "No, I'm not Ash. I'm just a part of the mission to go rescue her, as well as the other two."

The Shipwright looked over all three of them. "That's the secret mission you three are supposed to be taking on? Tracking down the Heroes?" The woman in front nodded. "That's right. I'm Scorch, a child of light that was prophesied to bring about the cataclysmic event known as the Balance, and it's my destiny to find the missing Heroes, along with these two." She nodded at the Exo. "That's Dawn, pretty much a copy of Ash and the Warrior's persona that has been sent by them through some unknown method to guide us to them. And this is Eager, the guy who shot my sparrow."

The Warlock glared at the woman for a second, and then smiled as he turned to Amanda. "How do you do?"

The mechanic sat down on her desk. "This is a lot to take in, you understand. I'll probably need a minute here." She just sat there for a few seconds before looking back up at Scorch. "They're alive? Ash, Matt, Aria, they're all alive?" Scorch paused, and then nodded slowly. "We believe so, though nothing is confirmed." Amanda pointed her thumb at the hangar bay below them. "Your ships are ready to go, feel free to leave whenever. I'm just gonna ponder this for a while." Scorch nodded in gratitude, then turned back around and descended the steps, leaving the Shipwright to contemplate the information she'd been told.

Walking onto the hangar floor, Scorch saw the three ships that Amanda had pointed out near the large opening of the hangar itself. They appeared to be smaller than the multi-person ships, but also sleeker and probably faster. "Those are good ships alright, Cayde wasn't kidding." Eager commented on the ships statuses, and accompanied his remark with a whistle. "Whose is which though?"

Dawn shook her head. "I don't think it matters. I'll take the one on the right." She set off at a brisk pace for the rightmost ship, and a second later came Eager's reply, "Alright then, guess I'm on the left. That leaves the middle for you, fearless leader." He too took off toward his respective ship, and Scorch began to walk slowly in the direction of the last remaining vessel. Spectre appeared, and Scorch talked as she moved. "I can't fly a ship, I've never had any experience." He sized up the ship himself. "Well luckily from the records I've looked at, Ash was a great pilot which means that Dawn will more than likely show that same trait. Eager's on the task force, he's trained for it. And you've got me. Believe it or not, I'm still a Ghost, and I still have knowledge about these things."

She nodded, and increased her speed due to the slight boost in confidence. "You'll see, it'll be just as easy as driving a sparrow. I'll teach you on the way." The front cockpit was open, and a ladder stood against the side, leading into the seat. A Frame stood next to it, waiting for her arrival. "Welcome, please enter." She complied, and began to ascend the ladder. Once she'd clambered inside, the ladder was taken away by the Frame, and the cockpit's plexiglass window began to slide over her. She sat in the black pilot's seat, one that was very comfortable and allowed her easy access to the console of buttons, levers, and switches. Spectre dematerialized into the ship, and a moment later his voice came over the comms. "Ready when you are."

She noticed a radio, and spoke into it with its settings on "broadcast" rather than an actual channel. "Are we good to go you two?" A holographic display appeared in front of her on the viewport courtesy of Spectre, and it showed the statuses of Dawn and Eager. Dawn spoke over the comms, "All clear and ready." A dot next to her name on the display winked green. "On your mark." Eager's light winked green.

Scorch exhaled deeply, trying to ignore the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. "Alright then… Fireteam-" She stopped. "What's wrong?" asked Spectre. Scorch frowned. "We don't have a name, a fireteam name." "Is that really high on your priority list right now?" She pointed at the display, analogously pointing to Spectre. "You know just as well as I do that one of the most important things in racing is a proper name. That's why 'Scorch' works so well." The Ghost sighed. "Fine. Hurry up though, I can't imagine that the Heroes are going to be in need of any more delays."

She furrowed her brow for a moment, then her face lit up. She spoke into the comms again, " _Fireteam Seeker_ , let's go." The ship began to rise quickly, Spectre at the controls. Dawn and Eager's each began to rise as well, and in another few seconds, they all blasted out of the hangar, and arced upward into the sky.

-X-

"Alright, so you understand the pitch and roll now?" Scorch nodded, though it felt slightly awkward with her helmet now on. "It's just a bit difficult without any sense of orientation in space." "Well, it seems like you're learning quickly enough. Just apply that knowledge to practical use, and you'll be solid." The comms suddenly crackled to life, and Eager's voice came over the channel. "Alright, I have to ask a question. How the hell do you have a Ghost, and such an anti-Vanguard Ghost too?" Scorch chuckled lightly. "You alright if I tell this story, Spectre?" "Doesn't matter to me."

She replied back into the comms; "While I was still living on the streets, I ran into Spectre as he was returning to the tower. Ghosts without a Guardian are, as you know, placed on supply duty. They collect materials wherever they can, usually on the borders of the city. He was coming back from such a supply run when he came across me shivering in the cold, living in a cardboard box. He asked me why I was out there, and I told him. At first, he wanted to take me to the tower, but I explained how I'd already been turned away more than once, and he became infuriated. Outraged at the way that the Vanguard were treating victims of the battle, he decided to stick with me and become my protector." She smiled. "He's been a pretty damn good one too."

Silence followed on Eager's end, until he finally spoke seriously, "I'm sorry, Scorch. I- I really am. I don't think anyone intended that, but it doesn't excuse what happened." Scorch thought this over, and though she was still a bit apprehensive about the shaky relationship with the Vanguard, she was willing to accept his reconciliation. "Don't worry about it Eager, you didn't have anything to do with it. No point in crying over spilt milk." Silence followed, and she figured he was likely mulling over her dismissal of his apology.

"Just letting you all know, we're approaching Venus in thirty seconds. Prepare for landing." Scorch sat back in her seat, and allowed Spectre to pilot the rest of the way. The blue effects of Warp space began to dissipate, and the black of normal space began to appear instead. Venus seemed to jump into her field of view, greenish-yellow and different in size than she'd pictured it, slightly smaller than Earth.

"Beginning our entrance into Venus' atmosphere…" Spectre's voice sounded as though he were concentrating, and Scorch watched silently in an attempt to avoid disrupting him. As they penetrated through layers of the atmosphere, red heat began to surround the ship. The heat shield sheltered them from the effects of quick entry through the air and gaseous layers that enveloped the planet. Soon enough, the heat disappeared, and they made it to cloud height. Half a minute later, they'd passed even that, and the planet itself came into view. The landscape was luscious and green, full of life like a jungle. Several identifiable human structures could be seen in various parts of the region, and there was a coastline that led into a red-colored expanse of water, probably an ocean created from terraforming.

Spectre began to fly towards a spot in a rocky terrain, one that had a clear path that would be traversable by either sparrow or foot. The ship slowed to a halt, and lowered itself until it was about twenty feet above the ground. "Get ready for a transmat." Scorch barely had any time to register Spectre's words before blue light surrounded her and the next thing she knew, she was falling flat on her ass in the dirt. Eager and Dawn appeared as well, and casually landed upright on the gravelly ground. Dawn walked over, and extended a hand to Scorch. She took it, and allowed the Titan to help her up.

"So," asked Eager, "where to first?" She looked around at the surrounding landscape, and pointed towards a cluster of buildings not too far away. "Is that the Ishtar region?" Spectre twisted around to her. "Technically, we're already in the Ishtar region, but that is where most of the Ishtar population lived, yes. It includes the Ishtar Academy and a few research outposts every few miles or so." Scorch gave a single nod, and began issuing orders. "Then that's where we'll start. The Heroes saved my life once, and it's about time I return the favor. Let's go."


	20. Secrets of the Archive

Their sparrows streaked across the rocky terrain as they made their way towards the abandoned city. Trails of bluish flame followed behind them, marking them as three anomalous individuals amidst the jungle-and-rock landscape. Within a minute or so, they had reached the first buildings. Vines, leaves, and other plant-life almost completely enveloped the area, making it appear to be some kind of botany experiment gone wrong.

With the whining sound of the sparrows' engines slowing to a halt, they came to a resting point near the building cluster's boundary. Several cars that were crushed and rusted over many years were clogging the streets, making it nearly impossible to successfully navigate the road with sparrows in any efficient manner.

Scorch stepped off of her vehicle, Dawn and Eager following suit. She looked around at the surrounding buildings and noticed an old paved path that led a bit to the right. She motioned for them to follow her, and set off along the newfound road to see where it led.

After stepping around several cars and large blocks of debris that were scattered around, Scorch came to an open area. Ahead was a slight incline that had been caused by a rupture in the ground. She jogged over to the crack, and was surprised to find that there was a broken down building to the left; one that, after climbing a few steps to reach it, appeared to have a massive hole in its side with the floor collapsing to the sub level below.

"Spectre? According to our maps, where does that lead?"

The Ghost paused for a moment before saying, "To the Ishtar Academy. From several old scouts' reports, this cave-in is the only current possible way to reach it."

Eager and Dawn came up behind her as she gestured towards the ominous entrance. "Then that's where we need to go. Dawn said earlier that this place is important somehow, we're gonna find out in what way." She made her way across the pavement, her companions trailing slightly behind and next to her on either side.

The hole in the building wasn't the only collapsed piece of architecture. Moving deeper in, they found that the ground had completely sunk in years before, and led down to a waterlogged passage filled with the blue glow of some form of plant. With careful footing, they walked down the path and into the water.

Support columns were sticking up from the water and connecting to what would have been the floor above them. This suggested that they were within the foundation that the building was set upon. As they trekked through the water, their boots making _schloop_ sounds as they were pulled out of mud each time they took a step, Spectre provided some insight into the history behind the place.

"I remember people talking about this place. Apparently, some of the greatest minds in the solar system would travel to Venus just to contribute to the Ishtar Academy's knowledge. They did everything from study Vex minds to developing weapons based on Vex technology. As you can probably tell, a lot of the stuff was about Vex. Probably because of the unbearable abundance of them here."

He continued to search through information as they waded through the muck. "There have been almost no Guardians here since the Heroes' first journey to Venus."

"The Heroes came to Venus before their disappearance?" asked Scorch incredulously.

This time, Eager answered her; "Yeah, actually. It was where they first met the Stranger, the one who used to be called the Assassin. She sent them on a journey to kill the Black Garden and save the Traveler, a journey which they thankfully succeeded in. The Battle for the Traveler was only a single component in the quest."

Scorch drank in all this information with genuine curiosity taking control over her mind. She never knew too much about her saviors, only that they were some of the most revered Guardians known to the city. It was interesting, to say the least, for her to discover this much more about them. "What happened then?"

"Well, they told the Vanguard that after journeying to the Awoken, they were given a key to the Black Garden and destroyed it. It no longer exists as a part of reality thanks to them, and the Traveler has been healing for several years now." Eager stepped over a particularly deep hole in the ground. "It may not be back up to full strength yet, but it's been communicating more frequently with the Speaker in recent times, and has been more than capable of replenishing its light now."

They finally came around a bend, and reached an end to the passage. Here, concrete rubble formed a path that led upwards into an open-spaced area of sorts. In the center of the room stood a statue, likely the goddess of the planet's namesake; Venus. The sides of the room were two stories tall, and held bookshelves on each. For Scorch, that was a lot of reading, but if there were supposed to be geniuses that lived here, perhaps it was a bit more understandable.

Something caught her eye. Littered around the ground were the eroding remains of Vex. They were a number of years old, as rust and plant growth had slowly begun to cover them. But they couldn't be older than a few years as they were still in the relatively early stages. When sparrow parts got old, they could still be salvaged assuming that they hadn't been wasting away for too long. This level of decay was about even with her several junkyard experiences.

"If the Heroes were the only people to come to Venus in a long time, then these bodies must have been left by them," she remarked aloud.

Spectre flew a few feet in front of her. "Unfortunately, the Vanguard are a little bit ahead of you there. This is one of the places they searched, and they already found the bodies. They even found some footprints which should be a little ways over toward the back of the room. It was chalked up to when they first came here and fought the Vex for the first time." Scorch looked around, and sure enough found the sets of footprints that had lain undisturbed in the dusty floor for years.

"Well, maybe this line of thinking is a bust then. Not sure why you thought this place was so important," said Eager, motioning at Dawn, "but I'm not seeing anything that corresponds with that."

Dawn looked around, her voice sounding disappointed as well. "I thought for sure that this place held answers. I don't know why I had such a strong feeling-"

"Hold up." She fell silent as Scorch raised her hand to ask for a ceasing of noise. She walked a few short steps over to something odd she noticed about the footprints. "Spectre, look at these here. They look to be about the same size, right?"

He pondered silently for a moment, then turned to her. "Well, I suppose so. But what about it? There could have been two members with similar sized feet."

She shook her head. "No, because there are two more sets of footprints over there, each of them slightly smaller. Scan these ones, and run through a database of boots that could have made these imprints."

Spectre vibrated for a moment, then narrowed his eye a tad. "Well, these ones here would belong to the 'Stratus' class of Hunter boots, a model that was sold quite a few years ago. That would line up with the timeline for the Heroes' first visit here." He moved slightly towards the second set of prints. "These ones though, they would have to have been made by the model known as 'Aspriet', a model of boots that only came around relatively recently in the last few years."

He looked at her. "What's more, Aspriet is _also_ a Hunter class model of boots."

"Which means that they returned here, but for what?" Scorch narrowed her eyes, then let her gaze follow the Aspriet footprints path. They led towards the back of the room, but there was nothing but a sealed wall there-

Maybe not. She saw that two other sets of prints kept pace with the Aspriets, and they all ended at the edge of the back wall. On a whim, she drew her standard Hunter's blade, and began dragging it sideways across the wall with its point pushing into the structure. If what she thought was here was here, then that would make things a whole lot more-

The tip of the knife sank in slightly, and met resistance. Bingo. She examined where the knife had dipped into the wall and saw that there was a nearly invisible seam, maybe a few hairs thickness in width. It would be almost unseen to the naked eye. If there was a seam, then that meant that whatever this was, it could open. And if it could open, then there wasn't a wall here, but-

"A door," she whispered.

Dawn looked at her questioningly. "What?" Scorch ignored her for the moment, and spoke to Spectre again.

"Ping the wall here with some echolocation. Tell me what feedback you get."

Spectre emitted a small blue pulse from his center, and waited a few seconds. When he had finished, he spun back towards her and spoke with a smug sort of tone.

"The wall is hollow behind it. And since you found that seam there, I can only assume that you are correct in assuming it can be opened." He moved close to it, and shot a few blue beams into it. Instead of simply focusing on one component of the mechanism, however, he scanned the entire door to search for an access point. After several seconds, a _ker-chunk_ sound emanated from behind the newfound entrance, and a rumbling could be heard as it began to push the two panels that created the seam forward, and to each side.

As they slid away from each other, they revealed an open hallway that looked as though it hadn't been touched in many years. And there in the dust on the floor were three sets of footprints, including the Aspriet's. "Well, this is just a hunch, but I think we're gonna follow these for a bit." Scorch entered, tracking the footprints for where they needed to go.

The passage turned out to be just one in a series of hallways they had to traverse. As they walked, each of them formulated theories on why the Heroes had come here. "You said that some Academy members tried to make weapons using Vex tech? Maybe that's what they were after, finding something for the city to use against the Darkness."

Dawn shook her head at Eager's suggestion. "He said 'tried'. Doesn't mean that they actually succeeded."

Scorch racked her brain for what they could have possibly wanted. "Maybe they were after more research on the Vex? Looking for other ways to fight them?"

This time, it was Spectre who rejected the idea. "That can't be it, or at least not _just_ research. Before pulling out of Venus, the city's scouts grabbed all the possibly useful information that they could. We've got just about every bit of research imaginable that was performed on the Vex, though I'll admit it apparently didn't amount to much. They're just too vast and unknown."

They finally came into a circular room, one which had an exit that led outside. Upon walking through said exit, they found themselves in a large quad. There were buildings surrounding the area, and large trees that grew around the exterior, stretching up with their branches and leaves effectively shielding most of the site from view. "These are the Ishtar Commons," muttered Spectre, "I thought that this place had supposedly been lost to the Fallen long ago."

"Perhaps at one point, it had been. Look," said Eager, pointing at the building on their left. The structure was circular, and it had several entrances in the front, large walkways with roofing above them. Near the walkways were groups of bodies lying around. They jogged over to the bodies to find that they were the skeletal corpses of several Fallen Vandals and Dregs, nearly completely decomposed from the exposure of air and various wild-life such as insects and bacteria.

Eager reached his hand through one's exposed ribcage to push through the long-since rotten flesh inside. When he retracted it, he now held a bullet between his fingers.

"It's definitely a few years old, and human made. From the looks of it, probably fired from a hand cannon." Scorch heard this, and turned to Spectre. "Hey, you've analyzed the Hawkmoon, right? Can you project a small holographic image of what kind of rounds it would fire?"

The Ghost silently pulsed for a moment, before a grid-like beam emitted from his eye. There in the air was a replica of the Hawkmoon's bullets, and Eager held the round he'd found up to it for comparison. Aside from some erosion and wear, they were a match.

"Alright, so we know they've been through here." Scorch pointed into the building. "They likely killed these bastards here to get inside, so whatever it was they were after was probably pretty important to whatever they were doing." Marching on, the trio entered through one of the openings.

Spectre looked around as they walked. "I'm having to pull up some _old_ , and I mean _old_ maps for this. According to one, this leads to an area they called the 'Hall of Whispers'."

Eager looked at him curiously. "What kind of a name is that?"

"Well apparently, most of the top-secret research was done in this facility, the Ishtar Archive. Obviously, scientists had to keep a bit hush-hush about it, hence the 'whisper' part. I can only imagine at what they were working on down here." Spectre's voice sounded a bit uneasy, and that put Scorch on edge. Slowly, she drew the Last Word from its holster at her side, and held it carefully. She was no stranger to guns, as she'd had a very open experience on the streets.

As Spectre had said, they came to a room that was quite a bit larger than they's expected. In front of them was a staircase that led up to a second story, and to their left was just a quicker route to their destination. Taking the ground-route, they found themselves walking into a room that appeared to be a dead end. On the right was a computer console, and directly in front of them was a wall that appeared to incline in an upward direction away from them, almost like a ramp. From what they could see, it was almost entirely covered in plant-growth.

Spectre hovered over to the console. After a few quick scans, he turned back to them. "Alright, so that diagonal wall there is not a wall, but a door. A lot of hidden doors today, huh?" The snarky Ghost accessed the console, and the inclined wall, one that they now knew was a door, began to open. It split in the middle, each side of it moving into their respective walls. The plants were shoved off by the incoming edge, and when the doors were finally open, the ground was littered with green leaves and plant-growth.

A rush of cold air, air that had been sealed in here for years came out and blew through them. The air became chilly, almost a presage of what might have occurred down in the Ishtar Archive's depths. But something nagged at her, something… She felt as though it were right to go down. Her feeling that propelled her was definitely there, urging her to make her way into the darkness of the Ishtar Archive, but it was almost reluctant; as though it wanted her to do it, but it was afraid at something it knew was down there.

She shook her head to clear her mind. If the Heroes had been down here, there might be important clues to find, clues that could lead her to them. Gathering her courage, she began to carefully enter the room.

The immediate area behind the door was an open room, illuminated by artificial light on the left side. Directly in front of her was the way down into the rest of the Archive, a large staircase that led into the deeper sections. She noticed some objects casting several shadows in her peripheral vision over to the far left of the room, and she focused her vision on them to see what they were. As the sound of Dawn and Eager's footsteps came up behind her, she held her hand up to where her mouth would have been, had she not been wearing a helmet.

"God…"

In the corner was a group of skeletons. Scorch walked over to them with Spectre, intent on investigating them. There were four of them, with one laying on the ground near the others, one sitting hunched against the wall, and two of them hugging each other on the floor. She wondered who they'd been. She heard Eager ask tentatively from behind her, "You don't think… that's them, do you?" She was about to respond that perhaps some of them were, before she stopped herself. Something clicked. "Hang on… they can't be. Firstly, because one of them, Ash, is an Exo," she said, turning and pointing at Dawn. "That already rules out that possibility."

She looked back at the bones. "Plus, there's four of them here. There are only three Heroes, that's just basic math. And besides, only five years for full decomposition in a sealed vault? Decomposition that would not only have to eliminate their flesh, but also their clothing and armor? No, these are different people." Eager fell silent, probably feeling slightly embarrassed that he'd suggested such a possibility without even checking basic facts. She looked them over, searching for any form of identification.

Finally, near the skeleton sitting against the wall, she found a laminated ID card; no name, but it did have a bar code and a series of numbers for security access. The barcode had faded considerably and would likely not be valid, but the numbers were still legible.

"7-012-6," she muttered.

"What?" asked Dawn from behind her. She stood up, and gave a small salute to the skeletons out of respect for whoever they'd been. Then, she turned to Dawn and Eager.

"One of the people had an access code on them when they died. It-" As she looked at it carefully, an idea dawned on her. "Spectre, could you scan this for fingerprints please?"

The Ghost looked it over, vibrated slightly, and faced her. "Well, there are quite a few undamaged marks from a human's phalanges. But there are also a few prints that don't have any identifying ridges, almost as though they were made by-"

"Gloves," Scorch interrupted. "Can you guess at what kind of gloves, specifically if they'd been made by Guardians?" He vibrated in the air again, struggling to make such an estimate. "If I had to guess, I would say by a female Warlock. The prints are slimmer than the readable fingerprints, and Warlocks tend to use different materials for their armor than Titans or Hunters. They're more classy, more… uniform."

Scorch smiled. "They were here. They came here, and they picked up this card, which means that they may have needed it. Let's go." Without further explanation, the Seekers continued on down the spiraling staircase they'd seen before.

It was quite some time before they reached the end of the stairs. Evidently, people had believed that the experiments done here were dangerous enough to warrant security in the form being buried hundreds of meters below ground and rock. When they did arrive, they all had a small intake of breath at the sight which awaited them.

The room which they now stood in was evidently a lab of some sort. Inside were catwalks and structures that had been built inside the cave, keeping people from falling into the water below. Large generators and other devices were situated in the water and around the platforms, likely to have a constant source of power. None of them said anything, instead opting to stand in the cold chamber silently, waiting for something to happen.

"Well?" asked Dawn impatiently. "Are we just going to stand here, or…?" At times, Scorch forgot that she was the innocent-minded copy of the Warrior's personality. She probably wasn't nearly as uneasy as she and Eager were. Raising her gun, she slowly walked into the light created from the lamps in the ceiling high above.

"Welcome," came a feminine voice, loud and all around. Scorch tensed up, all of her muscles contracting from sudden surprise. "Please enter your security code to access systems." The voice was obviously automatic, and had likely just been triggered by movement in the lab.

Easing up a bit, Scorch relaxed, and stood up straight. "Jesus, that scared me for a sec. Spectre, where can we put in that code?"

Spectre emitted a blue pulse, and waited to receive feedback. After a few moments, he turned towards an area in the back of the lab, and said, "This way."

The three Guardians and Ghost moved cautiously through the cave-facility, watching for any signs of a threat. Fortunately, none presented themselves. Their only accompanying stimuli came from the sound of water drops falling into the cavern's own mini-lake below, and the echoes of their footsteps against the metal catwalks.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence and waiting for something to jump out at them, they reached a large cylindrical terminal. Scorch glanced around, checking to be sure that their surroundings were secure. The light was dim though, and she could-

Suddenly, she noticed something on the floor, several meters away and nearly hidden in the shadowed lighting. She narrowed her eyes at it, attempting to see what it was. Figuring that something this small wasn't going to jump at her and kill her, she approached it. It was a bundle of fabric on the ground. And more specifically…

"A cloak." Scorch picked it up, and rotated it around. "This must have been the Hunter's. Matt's."

Dawn pointed at it excitedly. "I knew there was something about this place! I knew there was a connection!" Scorch analyzed the cloak further, and upon unfolding it, was surprised to find that there were several burn holes in the fabric, holes that appeared to have been made by weapons that simply singed through the cloth.

"No bullets could have made those marks," commented Eager. "Gotta be some kinda Fallen or Vex weaponry. Might have been attacked while they were down here."

"Attacked by what?" she asked, turning around to face him with the cloak still in her hand. "There aren't any bodies around here, what could have attacked them? I don't like this."

The Ghost became impatient, and presented himself. "Look, I get it. We know they were here. But in order to find out what for, I need to see what they accessed here." Spectre moved closer, and shot his blue beam into the controls. "7…012…6…" The Ghost muttered to himself as he accessed the machine.

There was a pause, and then the computer accepted the code he'd given it. "Thank you, Dr. Shim. Shall I bring up your most recent files?"

Spectre jerked backwards in the air for a moment. "Dr. Shim? Why is that name so familiar…?"

Scorch ignored the Ghost's odd behavior, and spoke to the machine. "Yes, bring up the top ten files accessed last and their dates."

"Of course Dr. Shim." The monitor of the console booted up for a moment, and then Scorch saw a line of folders and labels, waiting for her to select them. She found that she could use the monitor by dragging her fingers across it, a touch-screen. Stuff like that wasn't used much anymore, everything nowadays was holographic; which meant this facility was _old_. "Okay, this one here is way more than five years old… same… same… most of these are- oh! Got one!" She selected a file named, 'Anomalous Events'.

When it opened, she saw several contents, all of them log entries. She clicked on the first one, and began to read it aloud to Eager and Dawn.

"Alright…'There have been enough events as of now to warrant a protocol for recording them. It started small, a misperception here, a stray thought there. But now, things have progressed. I've noticed that as we study the mind, time seems to move more fluidly, as though it becomes more flexible. Gravity feels odd, somehow. Right now, we're unsure if this is just our exhaustion from researching this thing for so long, or… if it's somehow managing to shift reality a bit.' What?" Scorch stopped reading.

"Creepy," commented Eager. Ignoring him, she continued onto another log, one a bit farther on in the list.

" 'It's not us, it's definitely the mind. It's not just editing reality, it's literally creating a rift in time and space. Not a very big one, but enough to send a signal out through the time-stream. That's not even the worst news. Whatever it's sending out, something else is receiving. We're picking up activity in the rift from an unknown source, a source that likely is even more powerful than the mind-core we've currently got in our possession. It makes you wonder; when a child cries for its parent, does the mother or father not come running to help? I hope we can be done with the research quickly, and get the hell away from whatever might be coming.' "

"Jeez…" whispered Eager. "What the hell were those researchers working on here?"

Scorch swallowed, and skipped to the last entry. "This is the final one; 'It's over. We decided last night, we can't risk bringing a warmind here, even if it could save us. For all we know, we might very well be in the right reality, but if we aren't, then what would happen if the Vex did somehow manage to assimilate even some of the complex systems of the warming? Humanity's very survival could be at risk here, but not from an enemy we can just take up arms against. It'd be a war against a foe that could not be beat, one with not unlikely odds, but impossible odds. Everyone would be a slave to its torture, and we can't allow that. Chances are, we're not our originals, and we're just copies in the simulation. Whatever we do, we're screwed. We're going to seal the facility, and wait up near the entrance. If someone does come, we need to be able to warn them. To make them stay away. This place is not ours anymore; it belongs to the mind, to the conflux. And it is pissed.' "

Spectre was silent as she read. Once she had finished however, he spoke up. "I think I know what happened with those skeletons we saw," he said, his tone sounding quite grave. "First though, let's see what other files the Heroes accessed."

Moving back to the top ten files, Scorch scrolled through them and found a file with a peculiar name, the last file that had been opened.

"This is the most recent file opened; probably one that the Heroes accessed. But it's encrypted; think you can try cracking it, Spectre?"

The Ghost moved up to it and shot his blue beam into the computer, presumably accessing information. "This is definitely a tough one. I can get most things... but maybe this is a job for the Cryptarch." He issued a command into the computer, and after a few moments of it shaking slightly as it processed the command, a cylindrical drive popped out of a tray.

"Take that; you can give it to Master Rahool later. I guarantee that he'll be able to crack it."

Scorch held the data drive triumphantly in her fist. "Alright, great! We got what we came here for; a lead. Let's head back to Earth, and get this decrypted-"

"Before you celebrate just yet at our discovery, there is a very important and very deadly matter for us to discuss." All three Guardians faced Spectre, confused as to the concerned tone in the Ghost's voice.

"Like I said, I think that I know what happened to those skeletons. I had to search through quite a few archaic records to find some for Dr. Shim. The man was brilliant, if a little rude. In any case, he, along with the rest of his research group, Chioma Esi, Maya Sundaresh, and Duane-Mcniadh disappeared while working here in the Ishtar Archive. Nobody knew what happened to them, though I suppose with the Collapse happening around them, nobody really cared about four people going missing when millions were being slaughtered. They were never found in any case."

Scorch crossed her arms. "So?"

"So, I think that those skeletons we saw are them, or at least what happened to them. And I've managed to piece together clues from a combination of reading those logs and scanning around. See, there's something else in that console." He gestured to the monitor. "Something not human, something… powerful." They all fell silent as they listened to the Ghost, hanging onto every word.

"You see, what they were studying here was a Vex mind-core. Now, an individual Vex is just a leaf on a huge tree, part of the one shared mind that controls every unit simultaneously. But what happens when you take the roots of the tree, and plant them?"

Dawn answered, "It grows."

Spectre bobbed at her. "Exactly. They had no idea that while they were analyzing this thing, it was doing the exact same thing to them. And it learned, it inferred, it copied. Something happened that made escape for them impossible, and scanning this thing confirms my fears to be true."

"And those would be?" Eager seemed to be hanging onto every word, and just wanted the truth.

"As soon as this monitor was reactivated, so was the mind-core. This whole time we've been reading, it's been analyzing us, studying us. And now it's running simulations."

"Simulations?" asked Scorch. "What does that mean?"

"It means that right now, there is an artificial copy of us in its database, doing the exact same thing we're doing, saying the same things we're saying, and thinking the same things we're thinking."

Dawn crossed her arms. "So? They're just simulations, copies and imitations of us."

Spectre shook his body. "Not quite. They are simulations, yes, but the mind core has literally created virtual copies, complete with minds, personalities, memories, you name it. For all intents and purposes, they are alive."

Scorch shivered. "That's… disturbing. Can we help them?" Spectre looked at her.

"The real question is, can we help ourselves? See, I've looked at the number of copies it's created. It's well over two hundred already, running them all simultaneously, each of them acting just as the originals do. And each of them has a proper mind, an actual sense of being that makes them feel just as the originals do."

"Oh, God…" Eager moaned as he realized whatever Spectre was talking about. Meanwhile, Dawn and Scorch remained confused.

"What? What's wrong?"

He turned to them. "They feel just as the originals do, think like they do, act like they do, every single one of them. And there's over two hundred copies, but there will only ever be one reality. Think of the odds."

Scorch held her hand up to where her mouth would have been. "Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick…" He nodded. "Chances are, we aren't the originals. That we're one of the copies. And that means that we're in the Vex simulation right now, where it controls whatever happens to us. It could kill us, torture us for eternity, you name it."

"In the simulation," Scorch realized aloud, "it's playing God."


	21. Escape from the Mind

"Okay, hold on." Dawn held up her hands as though she were physically trying to slow the frightening train of thought that was traveling around the room. "I mean, how could we be in a simulation? We have to be the originals, right? I certainly don't feel like a copy."

Eager shook his head. "None of the duplicates would. They're all a perfect simulation of us, complete with their own sense of being. There's no way to distinguish the originals from the copies."

Scorch nodded slowly. "That's why the others died. They didn't want to piss off the mind by trying to escape, so they opted for a more peaceful death and simply locked the place down."

Eager thought hard for a moment. "Hang on, didn't they talk about a Warmind? About bringing one here?"

Spectre looked at her. "They did, but decided against it. They were right too, what would happen if the Vex got ahold of any fraction of a Warmind's capabilities? We'd be putting humanity itself at risk." Scorch had no idea what a Warmind was, but apparently they were serious business. She trusted Spectre's input on the matter.

All were silent as they thought of what to do. None presented any reasonable ideas.

Spectre turned to each of them, watching them struggle to come up with a solution. "I don't know what to tell you all, there's no sure way to know that we're the originals. We could attempt to escape, but then the mind core might react if we were a simulation-"

"Then that's what we'll do." Scorch's interruption brought everyone out of their stupor. "Look, we may not have a definite way to know that we're the originals. But dying here sure as hell isn't an ideal situation." She turned to Spectre. "You said that it's running near-perfect simulations of ourselves, right? Even now?"

Spectre vibrated for a second. "Yes, the sims are still doing exactly what you're doing."

"Good." She held up the damaged cloak. "Obviously they were here, but they managed to escape somehow. It does look as though the mind-core definitely reacted," she said, pointing to the singed holes in the fabric, "but they escaped nonetheless. Unfortunately, they didn't destroy the mind core. That's what we're going to correct."

She gestured at the central console. "You said that the mind-core's essence is inside here, right?"

The Ghost bobbed slowly. "Yes, it is. What are you thinking?" She inhaled deeply, and then exhaled, preparing a simple explanation for them.

"Assuming that we're in a simulation, if we try to leave or do anything, the mind core will react and either torture us for eternity or kill us in brutal ways." She shivered slightly, then paused to regain her composure. "But if it's destroyed, all of the simulations die quickly, and the originals escape. The sims are doomed anyway, and I'm fairly sure that suddenly ceasing to exist is a lot better than whatever the mind core has in store. Are the sims still with us so far?"

Spectre checked again. "Yes, they're all saying exactly what you're saying. Amazing, this thing's prediction algorithm…"

She cut him off. "Then it's a unanimous vote. I, along with all of the other sims, will destroy the console. In every single simulation and in the original, their 'Scorch' will destroy the mind-core, and will either cease to exist or will be free to leave." She raised the Last Word, and aimed it at the console.

Spectre pulsed for a moment. "Uh, I'm detecting Vex signatures around the area, growing stronger. They're in all the sims too. My guess is that the mind core is calling for help, but doesn't want to distinguish between originals and copies yet. Do whatever it is you're doing fast."

She nodded. "Anyone have anything they want to say before I do this?"

Eager shrugged. "Not much to say, is there?"

Dawn sighed. "My thoughts exactly. Either we'll live, or we won't. Why delay?" Scorch acknowledged their sentiments with a quick nod, and faced the console again. "Spectre, what are the chances that we're the originals?"

The Ghost pulsed. "1/237 and the number keeps shrinking with every sim that is created."

Scorch inhaled and exhaled quickly. "Guys, just in case we're one of the 236 copies instead of the originals and we die right now, I just wanna say thanks for accompanying me on this. I know it's kinda your jobs, but I don't have many friends and I'm glad to consider you two in that category."

Dawn gave her a thumbs up in response, but Eager seemed taken aback. "Really? I haven't had that feeling at all from you."

She shrugged. "I'm not the best at expressing emotions. You'll learn to tolerate it."

She hesitated only a second more, and took the time to look down at the cloak she held in her other hand. In a split-decision, she pulled the cloak over her helmet and wore it. _I will not give up on rescuing you, I swear_ she thought to herself as she did so. Wearing the cloak was not a manner of cosmetics, but a promise; a promise that she would make it out of here in some reality, even if it wasn't this one, and she would rescue the Heroes. With a determined expression upon her face, she pulled the trigger of the hand cannon, firing round after round into the mind core's link to life.

The console immediately ceased to work. The monitor shut down, and sparks began flying from the holes created by the bullets that had punched through the exterior of the console and destroyed the wiring within. Scorch cautiously looked around and exhaled a sigh of relief when she realized they were still alive and breathing.

"Guhh…" Scorch felt her knees turn slightly wobbly from the feeling of all the tension in her body leaving her out of joy that they were the originals. Spectre flew over to the now destroyed console and analyzed it.

"No activity detected. The mind core is definitely dead, as are the sims. For them, life just seemed to… stop. No pain, no torture. It was the best outcome for them." Scorch felt an odd emotional pain spread throughout her chest. The sims may have only been copies, but they'd all been real minds, with real personalities and memories. Albeit, copies of real memories, but still. The odds had been likely that they themselves would be sims, but luckily they turned out to be the 1 out of 237.

Spectre began vibrating frantically. "The Vex! They're still coming!" Indeed, clouds began emanating from several blue lights that had appeared throughout the room.

"Seekers, move!" Scorch yelled, and they all began to sprint toward the exit. One of the clouds in front of them dissipated and revealed a few Goblins that turned to look at them as they ran. Raising her weapon, Scorch fired off several rounds into the chests of the robotic organisms. Two of them fell under the gunfire, while the other three raised their arms to take aim. Dawn dashed forward and shoulder charged one of them, sending it flying back several meters into pieces. Eager extended his hands and let a jet of flame shoot from the palm of his hand, engulfing the last two Goblins' heads in fire.

As the robotic organisms fell, more moved in to fill their place. Red beams of searing hot energy were flying from every direction across the room. Weaving in and around in an evasive sort of dance, the trio managed to make it to the exit door, and began ascending the spiral staircase. With their footsteps echoing off the walls of the passage, they continued sprinting out of the archive until they reached the massive slanted door that Spectre had opened for them to enter.

"Spectre, lock down that entrance! Make sure that nothing gets through!" Complying, the Ghost moved over to the console on the side of the hallway, and began accessing the mainframe. Slowly, the two doors on either side began to slide towards each other to close the gap that allowed entry to the archive. With a loud rumble, they met in the middle and ceased to move.

She panted and looked to her two companions. They stood with expressions of just as much awe as she felt. Motioning with her hand, she gestured towards the Hall of Whispers.

"I'm, uh… I'm gonna call this mission for today. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow, but I think we've made good progress these last few hours, don't you?" Both of them nodded their heads in agreement. Scorch started to shakily walk out and towards the exit with the other trailing close behind.

-X-

Scorch laid down on her bed and tried to relax. Dawn was out in the living room, sleeping on the spare mattress that Scorch had bought out in the city and brought back for her. She figured that the woman couldn't keep sleeping on a couch in a friend's apartment, but should sleep on a _mattress_ in a friend's apartment. She hoped that made more sense.

Eager was catching up on some work he needed to do for the task force. Dawn and Scorch had decided to drop off the data drive with the Cryptarch overnight before making their way back to Scorch's apartment. He had assured them that he'd solve the encryption as fast as he was capable, and that was good enough for her.

She looked over at the trophy she'd collected, now hanging on the back of her door. The lost Hunter's cloak still bore many scars of war, but Scorch liked it that way. It made her feel as though she were a part of all those experiences, as though she were following in the footsteps of its previous owner. Technically, following his footsteps was exactly what her job was, but she tried to ignore that.

Scorch gave it a brief nod as though Matt could see her. She hadn't been kidding herself when she'd made that vow down in the archive. This cloak would be a reminder to her everyday, a reminder of the promise that she'd made to find the Heroes, and if possible, bring them home safely. They'd saved her life, and she wouldn't stop feeling in their debt until she repaid that favor. Sighing, she shut her eyes, and drifted off into slumber.


	22. Templar's Dwelling

\- 2 Days Later -

* * *

"Okay, allow me to understand this." Commander Zavala massages the temple of his forehead with his two front fingers as he tried to comprehend what the Seekers had told him. "You mean to tell me that you were trapped in a Vex simulation with over two hundred copies of yourselves, and made it back here in one piece?"

Scorch nodded regretfully. " _We_ did at least. The rest of the copies, as well as the mind core, were destroyed when I shot the console it was inhabiting."

"Aren't we forgetting something just a bit important here?" interrupted Cayde, and the others turned to look questioningly at them. "I can see you've got a cloak on your back finally, but from where? If that's whose I think it is-"

Scorch nodded again. "Yes, it's Matt's. They were there at some point too, though how they managed to evade the mind-core… I don't know."

The Hunter Vanguard whistled while Ikora's eyes widened in astonishment. "They were there? How did you find anything like this, we searched for months-"

Dawn began to explain. "Scorch realized that there were multiple sets of footprints in the Ishtar Academy's first room, meaning that they had returned there at some point. Once we figured out where they'd gone, it was a simple matter of following their trail."

The Vanguard seemed to be at a loss for words. Cayde managed to say, "You have brought us closer to finding them then we got in over five years. Hell of a job, if I do say so myself."

Ikora raised a hand to quiet him. "Yes, but it's still not close enough. Did you find anything else? Any clues as to where they might have gone afterwards?"

Eager took the reigns of the conversation. "A few files down in the Archive had been opened within the time frame of them visiting it. One was encrypted, so Spectre put the file on a data drive. Scorch gave it to the Cryptarch to decrypt."

"Has he made any progress yet?" inquired Ikora.

Scorch shook her head to the disappointment of the Warlock Vanguard. "Not yet. He said he was getting close yesterday, but apparently it's quite the tough file to crack; it might take a bit of time to-"

The group of Guardians collectively began to turn their heads at the sound of someone running into the chamber. There stood none other than Master Rahool himself.

"Well, if it isn't the convenient timing of all convenient timings!" chortled Cayde as the Cryptarch regained his breath. "What's the dealio?"

He held up some kind of device in his hand as he huffed with exertion from running. "I've... decrypted the file! It's very... important... that you all see this!" Without waiting for further input, he threw it onto the table where it activated. A holographic screen emitted from a light on the device, projecting itself in mid-air.

"The file's contents consisted of several items; a map, some mathematical notes, and a basic summary. It reads as follows; 'The Vault is a Vex construct, a network of locations and structures run through the very mantle of the planet, though how far is unknown. We've managed to pinpoint what we believe is an entry point, somewhere that the Vault can be accessible through, though it's simply a theory at this point. The only reason we managed to pick this thing up in the first place was due to our attempts to trace the signal from the Vex mind core. Whatever it was communicating with, we found that it's in this so-called, 'Vault of Glass', waiting for something.

" 'What it's waiting for, we don't know, nor will we be able to find out. Since our discovery of the mind core's nature, we're having a vote tomorrow, after which I'll write the last log entry. I hope whatever we decide, others stay away. They need to stay away from this place, or risk the same fate as us. If you do find this, however, know that whatever threats exist to the Traveler, none of that matters if the Vault of Glass's conflux still lives. It must be destroyed.' "

Ikora gasped and Zavala's brows furrowed considerably. Even Cayde stopped for a moment and looked at the holographic screen with something akin to fear in his electric eyes. "Jesus..."

Eager took a few steps back, obviously having not expected this reaction. "What's the matter?"

The Warlock Vanguard's skin had turned slightly pale. "The Vault of Glass is supposed to be a legend, a rumor of a Vex chamber where an unspeakable evil dwells. We didn't think it existed, but if this file stands as proof..."

The Cryptarch looked at her. "Indeed. It spoke of how something within the Vault was communicating with the mind-core in the Archive. If I had to guess, it would be the conflux that the file spoke of, the conflux of the Vault." He paused slightly. "But that bit confuses me. From what I've always understood, Vex confluxes are more of anchor points, or data archives. But they're definitely not alive. The file said, however, that everything is at risk as long as that conflux still _lives_. What does that mean?"

Cayde shrugged. "Your guess is as good as ours. Like we said, we had no idea this thing even existed for real until about five seconds ago." Suddenly, his face turned blank as a thought crossed his mind. "Why is the Vault even- oh no, don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me."

Scorch looked at the two Guardians beside her. "This is what they were doing, looking for the Vault of Glass! Eager, who was that person you talked about earlier? The Stranger?"

He nodded. "The Stranger was once the Assassin, ally to the Darkness. But she flipped sides, and even helped two of them with saving the Traveler's Spark, which allowed them to resurrect their dead leader and most of the other Guardians who died in the Battle for the Traveler. She hasn't been seen in a few years though."

Scorch held her left hand, the one holding Matt's old cloak, up to the chin of her helmet as she thought of possible scenarios. "Okay, how about this; the Stranger knows about the Vault of Glass, or at least a possible rumor of it. She tells the three of them that something has been triggered there, and they need to check it out. They find evidence of the Ishtar Archive, and go there to get information. They find out what they need about the Vault, likely its location, and then..."

Cayde faced the other Vanguards with his face full of panic. "She's right; think about it, why would Matt, Ash, and Aria have been looking for info about the Vault? Entertainment? There's only one reason they'd be trying to find out anything they could about it."

Ikora groaned. "They would immediately try to destroy it, to conquer it! Oh, what fools they were…"

Scorch raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that good that they would try to do something like that?"

Zavala shook his head. "Along with the legends of the Vault have come tales of Guardians attempting to breach it. There was a story of three Guardians who tried a very long time ago, a story that is now told to children as an old folks tale."

Ikora nodded. "The tale of the three, Kabr, Praedyth, and Pahanin. It's said they were the bravest of their time, and ventured down into its pits to seek an end to the threat."

"What happened to them?" asked Scorch. "Did they succeed?"

Ikora met her gaze with steely eyes. "Out of the three, only Pahanin made it out, and he was said to be forever scarred by what he witnessed down there." Scorch felt a lump in her throat, and attempted to rid herself of it unseen.

She asked with a shaky voice, "Is that all?"

"No." The Warlock closed her eyes. "The last that had been said to attempt it was Kaine. We thought nothing of it, figuring it was nothing but an exaggerated rumor, and did nothing to stop him. He wanted a way to fight off the shackles of fate, to rid himself of the illusion of free will, and obtain true power in defying destiny. He never came back, but if he truly succeeded in doing so…"

"Then the Heroes aren't the only ones we have to find," finished Scorch.

Ikora nodded. "The evil in the Vault may be this conflux you spoke of, and considering the power over time that the Vex have exhibited in the past, I worry that it would be too much power in the wrong hands." She corrected herself. "Actually, it's already in the wrong hands, but it could be in much worse hands."

Dawn looked at Spectre, and addressed the Ghost. "Are there any maps in that file?" He turned back to the monitor, and bobbed in the air.

"Yes, there is. It's a layout of the Waking Ruins, with a hand-drawn circle up on top of a cliff-like area, near a Vex door."

Scorch clapped her hands together. "That's it! That's why there were so many Vex bodies in that area, they fought them off as they entered the Vault! Why didn't anyone check that door, though?"

Spectre vibrated slightly. "Apparently, it's been thought of nothing more than another entrance into the Citadel, another Vex structure nearby. But nobody's ever been able to access it, so they must have written it off as an impossible location for them to go."

Cayde pointed at the Seekers. "Alright, we've got a game plan. Scorch, take your team and get back out there. Do whatever it takes, _but_ _you have to get into that Vault!"_

Scorch nodded, and turned abruptly to exit the hall. Eager and Dawn followed after her, now with a mission in mind; to bring the Heroes home no matter the cost.

-X-

The Seekers approached the Waking ruins. They looked around the large open space to see the massive circular door that had been so incorrectly assumed to be harmless sitting upon a cliff in from of them. Vex stone structures littered the area, half sunken into the ground. On the left of the clearing was a staircase made out of the same material and built into the dirt. The same staircase connected with the large precipice on which the door sat, connected with a path of grass and overgrowth that had spread over the steps. On the right was a collapsed section of ruins that stood high above the left side of the clearing, and had also become overgrown with moss and other plant-life.

Slowly, they made their way towards the door. As they walked up the left side, Dawn noticed that there was a rectangular pillar standing inside a ring placed upon the ground. It was a most peculiar sight, and she wondered what it was for. Setting aside her inquisitive nature for now, she simply followed Scorch and Eager up the hill to the entrance to the Vault.

They stopped just a few feet short of the large access point, and stared at it. Eager looked questioningly at Dawn and Scorch. "Any ideas on how to get in there?"

Scorch appeared to be stumped. "I… I'm not really sure. Could we blow it up maybe…?"

Spectre made his way over to the door, and scanned it. "You could try, but it wouldn't do much. From the density of the material this door is made from, anything less than a nuke won't put much of a dent in it."

Scorch threw her hands in the air frustratedly while Dawn decided to look around a bit more out of curiosity. Glancing behind her, she noticed that another pillar stood behind them a few meters, also surrounded by a ring. Beginning to put the pieces together, she looked even farther up on the collapsed structure to see a third instance of the odd pillars. Something about them seemed familiar to her…

While Eager and Scorch discussed with Spectre on the quickest way inside, Dawn walked slowly over to the pillar behind them. She knelt down just at the edge of the ring, and stuck her hand through the assumed boundary. Immediately, tiny white cubic pixels began to integrate around her hand. They weren't solid, merely lights that rose upward from the ring, following its circular path around the pillar. All of them began to appear, emanating from the point in which she'd punctured the non-solid barrier, and soon there was a roughly two-foot tall circle of white cubes that had ascended from the metal ring on the ground.

"Uh, guys?" she called, hoping that her companions would see this. The others turned around to see the discovery that she'd made.

"What the hell?" Eager walked over to her and took the same position as she did, kneeling on the ground with his hand outstretched. "What does this do?"

Almost as though it were responding to his question, a deep humming could be heard, and they turned to look towards the source of the sound. In the middle of the clearing down below was a stone pedestal, and as they watched, even more white pixels began to appear and build themselves up from the pedestal in the shape of a large vertical-standing rectangular cuboid.

"Is that it? Do we need to unlock the door by using these things?" Scorch posed the question to anyone in general, and Dawn nodded in response.

"I believe so, but there's two others on the sides. I think we need to have all three to-" She stopped talking as she watched a Minotaur teleport into existence near the base of the left side. Its intent was made known when it walked calmly into the circle down there, and the white lights began to shift into an angry red hue. She watched as the pixels on the Pedestal began to disappear and regress.

"Stop that Vex!" Dawn yelled, and without question, Scorch leapt up and fired several rounds down below into its chest. The tore through its outer plating, and a moment later, it fell over. The lights turned white again, but the damage was done, and the pixels began constructing themselves anew.

Several blue orbs of light began to wink into sight near each of the three pillars, and Scorch knew what had to be done. "We can't let them get into those rings! We have to defend them until that door is open!"

Dawn nodded, and turned to Eager. "You heard her, let's move!"

A mark of their recently acquired loyalty, they instantly moved into action. Dawn made a beeline for the ring on the collapsed ruins while Eager sprinted for the lower ring near the base of the stairs. Scorch remained at the center, and began to focus her aim on a group of Goblins that had materialized nearby and were steadily carving a path towards her ring.

Dawn made it to her ring just as a Minotaur was about to enter it. She leapt forward, and focused energy into her fists. She struck the ground next to it, sending large vibrations rumbling through its legs before the electrical pulse washed over it and obliterated everything within a ten foot radius. She then stood back up, unslung her auto rifle, and began to fire upon the other waves of enemies attempting to breach the circle.

Eager lobbed a grenade of solar energy over at a Hobgoblin coming too close to the ring. It exploded in a fiery burst that ejected liquid flame all over the surrounding area, completely drenching its target. As the Vex soldier began to vanish in orange light, Eager popped a new magazine into his sidearm, and let loose a long torrent of bullets upon other challengers to the area he defended.

Meanwhile, Scorch found herself backing up against the pillar as she continued to lose ground to several Minotaurs attempting to relinquish her control over the ring. They were going down, but not at as fast as more kept appearing. Turning around and feeling for the top edge of the pillar, she pulled herself up and scrambled onto the flat top. Upon reaching it, she spun around and let the Last Word fly with its thunderous sound echoing all around the surrounding area.

Eventually, she dispatched most of the attackers, only to see another group teleporting in a mere twenty feet away. Panting heavily from the rush of adrenaline coursing through her, she glanced at the constructed pixels progress in the middle. Surprisingly, they had reached a considerable height, and now that familiar Vex stone material was beginning to form where the pixels were, as though it was pulling the mass from an external dimension or something similar.

Before she got too distracted, she looked around to see that in addition to the group she'd spotted walking over to her, another had begun walking up the side of the dirt path to her right, or rather on the left side of the clearing in orientation to the door. It was too much, she was alone and didn't have the experience of the other two. She uttered a soft growl or moan of determination; she was getting to those Heroes, she was going to bring them home, _and these Vex weren't going to do a damn thing about it._

She felt a curious warmth in her arm, and looked down to see a spurt of purple flames licking the palm of her left hand. Her intuition, the feeling that guided her for being a Child of Light came over her again, and she knew what it was meant for. Aiming at the group on her right, she tossed the fire down onto the ground. It instantly grew lengthwise, effectively creating a barrier of which they could not cross without dissolving into void energy. On her left, she felt a surge of power within her chest, and she leapt up in the air reaching behind her for something…

A purple bow of pure void energy appeared in her grasp, and when she pulled her other hand back it held an arrow of the same make. She instinctively pulled the arrow across the gaseous form of the drawstring, and let it fly. It burned a hole through the Minotaur it impacted against, and landed neatly on the ground behind it. As its first target fell, the projectile suddenly split, a void line tethering each enemy nearby to the arrow. They could not move, paralyzed by the energy which ensnared them, and Scorch pulled out her trusty weapon to finish hem off. Within seconds, the last of her enemies had become a smoking heap of metal.

Suddenly, a noise rang out. It sounded synthetic, and Scorch searched for the source. She found that the pixel-structure was now completely replaced with the Vex-stone, and at the top was a small white light. This light emitted a pulse that spread over the entire clearing.

Before Scorch could react or give any orders, the pulse had washed over her and her companions. Nothing happened to them, and she inspected her body to make sure of that. But the Vex were a different story. Dawn held her auto rifle ready to fire, but the Goblins she'd been fighting had frozen, stuck in some form of paralysis. The female Exo looked confused as her helmeted head spun left and right in bewilderment as to what had just happened. Down below, Eager simply poked one tentatively, and watched nonchalantly as the particular Minotaur he'd prodded fell backwards and landed against the stone steps with a large clang.

A beam of white light jetted out from the light which had created the pulse, and it made a beeline in the air for the large circular door which granted access to the Vault. On cue, a rumbling could be heard as the mechanisms of the door began to unlock. Dawn and Eager joined Scorch where she stood to watch this spectacle unfold. The circular door's plating and sheets which made up its structure began to rotate upwards to each side consecutively throughout several layers of metal, until the bottom third of the door was now open.

Beyond the entrance, Scorch could see a set of stairs descend for a short while before becoming embedded in rock, upon which the rest of the path formed, likely through some caves. She looked to either side of her, watching her companions masked faces. Dawn's visor depolarized, and Scorch could see the Exo's shocked expression. "Holy…"

Eager pointed at it. "Now _that_ , was a tough lock. But we beat it, right? We can enter?" He turned to stare at Scorch, and she nodded. Reaching her left hand down, she reached for a corner of the cloak she wore, remembering her promise.

She gripped it tightly for a second, then let go and nodded in response. "We can enter."

Scorch tentatively took several steps toward the entrance. A rush of cold air greeted her, blowing out from the depths of the caves inside. She stood hesitantly for a few moments in the last little stretch of light that lit up the immediate area of the entryway, before taking a deep breath and forcing herself to walk down the steps.

"So," called out Eager, "I see you managed to summon your super ability. How did it feel?" Scorch could tell he was simply trying to make conversation in the darkness, but she was genuinely inclined to respond.

"It felt… well, it felt like one of the best feelings in the world, like I could take on anything. Do all supers feel like that?"

Eager shrugged. "When you cast a super ability, the Traveler's light fills you with itself, granting you strength and power. It's not hard to imagine how empowering that makes people feel." Scorch thought this was an adequate response, and accepted it.

After several minutes of walking, the cave opened up a bit. On their right was a large crevice, like a crack in a glacier. In front of them, the rocky ground turned to copper-colored grates of Vex structure. They walked across it cautiously, maneuvering their necks around to see if anything nearby posed a threat to them. After the grate platforms, another passageway made up of the Vex-stone beckoned to them. Reluctantly, they all continued their progress and entered.

Spectre flew around them, analyzing everything they passed. "I'm compiling a blueprint of the entire structure for further study later. This place truly is incredibly large, and that's only a guess from the echolocation pings I sent out a while ago!" He vibrated contentedly each time a scan was completed.

Scorch smirked. "I guess even deserter Ghosts have a love for information, huh?" The Ghost paid her no mind, and continued on his project.

When the hallway opened up again, there was a collective gasp from all three of the Seekers. Before them was an enormous chasm, spanning for what looked like miles in either direction. "All of this has been hidden from us for how long?" asked Eager breathlessly.

"At least a few hundred years," responded Spectre. "But in all honesty, the place could be hundreds of thousands of years old, and we wouldn't know it."

Dawn's head snapped toward the Ghost at his odd statement. "What? What do you mean?"

Spectre lazily floated around them. "Knowing what I do about the Vex and their reality bending technology, as well as power over time, it's not hard to imagine that this place could have been locked out of time, and simply pulled into Venus itself when the Vex took it over."

In front of them were large Vex-stone platforms that rose out of the depths below, and awaited someone to use them. Scorch pointed them out to her fellow companions. "I'm assuming we'll need to use these to get to where we need to go."

Dawn stepped forward. "I'll jump first, test it out." Scorch moved to argue, but Dawn held up a hand. "Relax, I can handle myself. It's just a small jump." With that, the Titan lined up her trajectory, ran forward and leapt down to the stone below. She hit the ground with an echoing thud, and bent her knees to absorb the impact, as well as placing both her hands on the ground in front of her to stop herself from slamming completely into the structure. She then stood up, and waved Scorch and Eager over. "It's stable," she called. "Just be careful, and be prepared for the landing."

Both of them landed on the stone behind her, and Dawn held her hand outward towards the next one. "Now that we know it's stable, after you fearless leader."

Scorch snorted. "Fearless? Yeah, right." Nonetheless, she followed Dawn's example, and jumped to the next platform, a process which they repeated several times until they reached a final area that acted as a cliff, hanging out from the rocky side of the cave interior. In the middle of the outcrop was an extension of the Vex-stone, one that almost looked like a pier or dock reaching into empty space. All three Guardians walked up to the edge, and looked outward.

Below the extended stone was an arena of sorts. Scorch looked up and around it, finding that there were staircases on either side of the large chamber, as well as in the middle. There was something glowing in the very center of the arena, in what looked to be a pool of light. And just beyond that was another circular door like the one they'd entered earlier.

"Another door," muttered Eager to the side of her, echoing her thoughts. "How do you suppose we get past that one?" To this, Scorch didn't have an answer. She tried to think of something, but before she could set her mind to it, she felt her guiding feeling come over her again, and her gaze fell upon the glowing pool below. She gestured at it.

"Something tells me that we're gonna need whatever that is." With no time to waste, Dawn leapt down to the floor of the arena below. Eager followed suit, as did Scorch a moment later. He landed on the ground fairly close to the edge, and she shifted to avoid hitting him-

She felt herself fall short of the floor, and she hit the edge of the stone, her chest impacting hard against the ground while her legs dangled off the side in the void. She began sliding backwards off the edge, but managed to quickly grasp the edge with her left hand before she fell completely. There, she hung over the precipice while grunting from the effort it was taking not to fall. A moment later, Dawn's hand reached down and gripped the Hunter's wrist strongly, then began pulling Scorch back up and over the top of the edge.

"Maybe next time, plan your jump rather than being too eager? That's his job," she chuckled, nodding her head towards the Warlock nearby.

"Har har," he said mockingly, annoyed at the pun of his name. Dawn shrugged.

"What next?"

Scorch walked over to the staircase in the middle of the arena, the one that led down to the pool of glowing light. She started to descend the steps as Dawn and Eager watched her carefully nearby. When she finally made it to the pool of light below, she say that some kind of object hovered in the center of it.

"What is it?" Dawn called, curious as to what it could possibly be. Scorch looked it over, and found that it took the shape of a shield, a fancy one at that. It appeared to be made of pure blue and white light, and an aura of energy surrounded it. She began to step inside the pool as Eager protested.

"Hey, wait a second, we don't know-!" Before he could finish, Scorch was already within the pool's boundaries, and nothing had happened. Regardless, Eager still looked to be on edge, and kept his eyes trained for any signs of trouble. He didn't trust any of this, and he sure as hell didn't want any of them getting killed. Both Dawn and Scorch seemed to have forgotten exactly where they were, which was an ancient place of legend, said to hold an evil of unimaginable levels. He hadn't, and he was going to treat this place as such.

Scorch stepped toward the shield. A blinding white arc of energy was pulled against the blue hard-light of the shield's structure. This was likely the strap that one would use to wield it. The feeling was now more powerful than ever, urging her to pick up the shield and use it for… what, exactly? She knew that what she felt was her fate guiding her, but it still created more questions than answers. Either way, she knew that she needed to pick up that shield to get to the Heroes, and that was all the motivation she needed to reach forward and loop her arm through the white arc.

Immediately, she felt a sensation of warmth spread through her, electrifying. The energy from the shield flowed into her, and tingled her nerves, as though someone were prodding her with pins and needles everywhere on her body. It felt great, almost an ecstasy throughout her sense of being, it was wonderful-

A noise emanated from the recesses of the chasm, and all throughout the air. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, a deep groaning as though something were waking up.

 _They disturb the Aegis…_ The voice that said this came from the same source as the groan, perhaps made even by the same entity. It was deep, menacing. It sounded masculine in nature, but Scorch couldn't precisely determine the gender of an echoing voice in the darkness.

 _They mean to enter the Vault, and delay my plans like the others…_ Above, Scorch could see Dawn and Eager spinning around to look for the source of the voice. Evidently, they could hear it too, which meant that this had nothing to do with Scorch's guidance. The others… that had to refer to the Heroes!

She tried to reach out to the voice. "Are… are you the conflux?" Silence answered her, as the voice pondered her query.

 _How do they know of the conflux…?_ asked the voice to itself, sounding wary but impressed. She tried again. "My name is Scorch, I'm only here to retrieve a group of Guardians that may have come here in the last few years. I did not know the Vex were capable of reason-" The voice interrupted her.

 _The Vex have no reason, only their hatred. As for me…_ It paused, as though trying to answer properly. After a few seconds, it appeared to have found one.

 _You seek others like yourselves?_ Scorch exhaled slightly, glad that she was making headway. "Yes. That is all."

It groaned, evidently not believing her. _No, there is something different… unusual about your aura…_ Scorch gasped slightly as she felt some kind of invisible presence probe her, explore her body and penetrate her very soul. She could _feel_ her soul, as thought this thing was making it a tangible object.

In an instant, the tendrils of it recoiled, disgusted by something it had found. _No! A Child of Light, here… another one brought up in tales of their own legacy and destiny…_

Scorch hurriedly tried to patch things up. "That doesn't matter! Yes, I may be intended to bring about the Balance, but…" Something dawned on her. "Hang on… another Child of Light?"

The voice sounded angry. _You will not bring your fate in here… I have defied destiny, held it at bay for a great time you have not known… yet, you would end all I have with your own._

She attempted one last time to get a word in. "Please, if you would just hear me out…!"

 _ENOUGH!_ The voice cut her off. _There will be no more talk. You will not retrieve those which you seek, and you will not enter the sanctum of the Vault! Prepare, for your final breath will be taken in the Templar's Well!_

She looked up at Dawn and Eager who were anxiously looking around for trouble.

"Final breath at Templar's Well… that doesn't sound like too promising a prospect," muttered Dawn.

Eager nodded. "I concur. Scorch, what do we do?"

Before she could answer, a light began to glow from behind her, and she looked up onto the ledge that stood before the door they needed to go through. Something big began to materialize on top of it, something massive…

With a screech that sounded like scraping metal, an enormous Vex monstrosity appeared. It hovered above the ground, with a large metallic body much in the shape of a upside down triangle. Its bottom trailed onward until it split into several segments that magnetically kept close together, and moved with the creature. A cylindrical shield stood vertically, effectively protecting it on all sides from damage.

"Figure that's the Templar?" yelled Eager, shaking slightly as the Templar's screeches echoed around the cavern and vibrated against the walls and ground, making it unstable.

"There's not much that gets by you, is there?" shouted Dawn in response. Scorch only stood there and watched in horror as the Templar began to charge itself with blue lights, preparing to unleash something.

 _You seek your destiny… but here, you will find only your own destruction._ The Templar suddenly let loose a wave of energy, a pulse that spread throughout the chamber and was powerful enough to knock everyone off their feet, skidding backwards from the force.

Scorch hit her head against the steps behind her, and began to black out. As she did, she heard the voice give its final thoughts;

 _Here, you will find only Darkness, Child of Light._


	23. The Vault of Glass

The voice's presence abruptly retreated, as though it had severed the a connection between comm channels.

Eager shook his head to clear his mind, and hopefully get rid of the annoying ringing that kept bouncing around within it. Looking around wildly to gain understanding of what had happened, he saw that Dawn was nowhere to be found. Turning this way and that, his gaze finally landed upon a set of fingers gripping the edge of the arena, much like Scorch's had looked when she'd been hanging on to prevent herself from falling into the chasm. He rushed over to where she was, and peered over the precipice.

"Hey, mind giving me a hand?" grunted the Titan. Her legs swung wildly in the empty space, and without a proper grip, she was going to fall.

"Just hold on!" he called, and he began kneeling down reach out and grab her. Before he could however, the Vex-stone she was holding began to crumble under her fingers, and she fell out of his reach. He lunged wildly for her, but she had already fallen down to the next outcrop roughly ten feet below. Her hands moved fanatically to grab something, and managed to grasp the second ledge, preventing her from falling further. Eager waved at her to get her attention.

"Okay, just hang in there, I'm gonna grab Scorch, and then come back for you alright?" Without waiting for an answer, he stood up and jogged back over to the top of the staircase.

He looked down to where Scorch lay on the steps, dazed but alive. He immediately began firing at the Templar, trying to take its attention away from her. He knew that it was shielded, but maybe it would ignore her for the time being, and he could buy her some time to ready herself. The Templar screeched at him and began to disappear in a cloud of pixel-like sparks. He wildly looked around for where it was before he saw it reappear behind him, and charge up again.

Scorch groaned as she lifted her head, and attempted to sit up. Lights kept dancing in and out of her vision, and she blinked at a rapid pace in an attempt to get rid of them. Hearing loud noises behind her, she looked to see Eager engaging the Templar, which had apparently teleported behind them. Its body was pulsating with blue light again, as it prepared to unleash another wave of energy.

Suddenly, she became aware once more of the warm feeling in her arm. Glancing down, she saw that the shield, or the Aegis as the voice had called it, was lit up. Out of instinct, she held it towards the Templar, and thought of some way it could attack the being. In an instant, a bluish-white orb of light ejected itself from the center of the Aegis, and traveled the ten or so meters through the air to the Templar, where it impacted against the shield.

Immediately, the shield disappeared, or did for the most part, flickering in and out of existence as it did. The Templar's charge was halted in a single moment, and it faced her, its roars full of malice. Eager, who was still up above, took the time to begin raining fire upon the massive Vex, both with his gun and with his fusion grenades. Flames licked the side of the Templar, beginning to melt some of the metal that made up the outer shells of its body. Most of the bullets ricocheted off the hard surfaces of its form, but some managed to penetrate its plating, and found targets within its mechanisms.

The Templar screamed in rage, and teleported once more. This time, it appeared at the door again, where it had originally come into play. Scorch turned and locked gazes with Eager. Tiredly, she waved her arm in a dismissive fashion. "Go get Dawn, wherever she is," she groaned, her voice hoarse. He nodded, and began running back towards the ledge where Dawn had fallen.

The female Exo was still holding on, when she came across an idea. All Titans and Warlocks had stabilizers built into their armor systems, jump packs of sorts. If she could simply kick off the wall and grab the edge above…

Eager's helmeted head appeared, leaning over the cliff. "Dawn, I'm gonna try to get to you!" She shook her head, and grunted with the exertion. "No need, just get ready to catch me!"

He muttered questioningly, "Catch me…?" before she brought her right leg up, and used it to push herself upwards, even the slightest bit. As soon as she had momentum, she activated her stabilizers, and they boosted her another eight feet or so. She was right there at the edge, but still too short. She stretched out her arm, and…

Eager's fingers closed around her wrist. He lifted himself back from the edge, pulling her up alongside him. Shaking slightly, Dawn collapsed on the ground next to him. "Thanks," she panted. He nodded once in acknowledgement, then spun around to gaze at where Scorch was, currently investigating the Templar.

As the Hunter looked on, green lights began to wink on on its body as opposed to the blue ones. She wondered for a moment what this meant, before a musical note sounded somewhere behind her. Jerking her head in surprise, she tried to find the source, only to see that some kind of cubic green orb had appeared behind her, between her and her companions.

"Spectre, what is that?"

Her Ghost's response sounded puzzled. "I don't know, I suppose it could be an outlet-"

Scorch fell to the ground, and clutched at her head. Spectre now sounded alarmed. "Scorch?! What's going on… your vitals are flatlining!" Indeed, it certainly felt that way. Every muscle in her body was contracting, and felt as though a giant fist was squeezing them tighter until they would burst. Her head alone was enduring a pain not unlike being crushed by bricks.

Lifting her head, she saw that despite not having organic bodies like her, Dawn and Eager were similarly afflicted with the sickness she was experiencing. Somewhere in the back of her head, she could hear a sort of chanting, but as quiet as a whisper… _Marked, marked, marked, marked, marked, marked…_

She began crawling to the thing with every intention to destroy it. Fortunately, it seemed that while whatever-the-orb-was was active, the Templar was incapable of creating the pulse it normally did. Now dragging herself forward, Scorch's knees were scraping the ground every time she gained distance. Eager had already fallen, and now only she and Dawn were trying to reach the orb.

Within a few more seconds, Dawn began to fail as well. She continued to reach out towards the orb, determined not to give up. Her hand was shaking from the experience, and after several more seconds of paralyzed pain, she collapsed on the ground, convulsing in many fits and spasms.

Scorch continued to pull herself forward, inch by inch. The only thing driving her now was pure tenacity. Once she believed she was close enough, she pulled the Last Word from her belt, and began unloading hell into the orb until the magazine ran empty. Small pixelated bits of it began to disappear, as though they were being erased. Red spots were now taking up the majority of her vision, and she knew it was now or never. Instead of reloading, she simply drew back her fist as far as she could, and with as much force as she could muster, drove it through the orb and destroyed it.

The feeling lifted in less than a second, and she inhaled deeply, gasping for air. Dawn's convulsions ceased, and the Titan stood back up shakily. Eager pushed himself off the floor with his hands, and looked around confusedly. "What the hell was that thing?!"

Scorch shook her head. "I don't know, but it's obviously not good." Facing about, she hefted the Aegis up again, and took aim at the Templar, whose green lights had disappeared. "As soon as that shield goes down, take it!" Without waiting for a response, she fired another beam of light into the shield, and watched as the Templar became vulnerable again.

Eager and Dawn wasted no time in opening fire, and soon the air was filled with the sound of whizzing bullets and denting metal. In response to this, the Templar teleported to another corner in the left of the arena, and began to glow green again. Its shield was still down however, and Scorch quickly barked out several orders.

"You two keep you sights trained on it, and don't let up! I'm gonna find that orb!" She sprinted off hurriedly, and began to search for that signature yellowish-green glow. Eventually, she spied it coming into existence near the right side of the arena, on an extended platform. The feeling began to come back, but before it could grip her in full, Scorch had sprinted forward and sliced the Aegis through the air, effectively splitting the orb in 2. It began to depixelate, quickly fading from existence.

"Scorch, need a hand!" Answering Eager's call, she began to run back towards her two companions. Coming into position, she saw that the Templar had teleported once again near the doorway. She motioned to Dawn and Eager.

"This is it, last one! Get ready!" She was quick to hold the Aegis steady, and release one last burst of energy. The shield went down for hopefully the last time, and the Seekers began letting loose everything they had on it. It was visibly smoking from all the gunfire, but it wasn't going to be enough. Scorch could see that blue lights were beginning to charge all along its body…

"Oh no you don't!" In a movement quick as a viper, she swung her arm forward and sent the Aegis spinning like a boomerang through the air. Like a ninja star, it sank deep into the Templar's torso area, and embedded itself there. Evidently it had penetrated something vital, because the blue lights began to wink out. A second or two later, a red glow could be seen emanating from the vicinity of the Aegis' impalement, and before anyone could react, the torso exploded, and spewed chunks of flaming metal everywhere.

The Seekers stood frozen, save for Dawn casually wiping a burning piece of debris off of her shoulder. Eager slowly bent forward to look at both of them. "So… is that it?"

Scorch brought up her right hand, now holding the Last Word, and reloaded it with a shell cartridge. "Not even close."

The door began to open, shaking the arena floor as it did so. Spectre materialized, and flew over to it. "For all the advanced tech the Vex uses, you'd think that they'd have higher thinking recognition software. But no, kill the big bad Templar of the Vault, and the mechanisms think it's safe. Stupid computers."

She pointed at the door behind the Templar's smoldering corpse. "Through there is where we need to go. We still don't know who the hell that voice was, and we need to get the Heroes out of here. Ready?"

Dawn patted her weapon assuringly, and Eager sighed in exasperation. "Let's do this."

-X-

The Vault of Glass seemed to be forcing them to trek more often than actually fight anything. Not that Scorch was complaining, but one would expect what was supposedly the lair of the Vex's most powerful evil to be a bit more… aggressive. In any matter, the Seekers had been traversing this most recent cave system for a nearly twenty minutes now. Only in the last few seconds did they finally see an opening, and were reinvigorated by the sight of progress.

Upon reaching the opening, they found that it widened out and became just a small hole in a phenomenally large cavern. Peering over the ledge of Vex-stone they stood upon, Scorch could just barely make out the bend of some sort of liquid flow, almost like a small river of Venus-mineral deposits. They glowed bright blue, and sparkled with what chemicals lay within them. What startled her the most was that these miniature rivers among the rock were easily a mile or more down from where they stood.

"Well, shit." Eager peered over the edge as he remarked on it. "That's quite the drop, huh?"

Dawn shrugged. "We'll be fine. We've got jump-packs, remember?"

"What are we waiting for then? No time like the present." Before Scorch could even take two steps after what was supposed to be her badass one-liner, she felt Dawn's hand on her shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. See, I said that _we've_ got jump-packs. _You_ , on the other hand, are a Hunter, and your armor isn't really equipped with one of those."

Scorch gulped and looked down at the massive drop which she'd just about to plunge herself into. "Thanks for the tip. So how do I get down?"

Dawn held her hand up to the chin of her helmet, and contemplated for a moment. After a few seconds, she started slowly, "Well, there is a way, but you're not going to like it at all."

Just judging from the tone of her voice, Scorch could already tell that Dawn was right. "Alright, what is it?"

The Titan turned toward Spectre. "You've still got reviving capabilities, right? Assuming you have enough light on hand?"

The Ghost moved through the air cautiously, curious as to where this was going. "Well, yes. But why would we-" Suddenly, his eye narrowed, and he vibrated angrily. _"No. That is not happening."_

"What is it?" asked Scorch, though she was beginning to suspect the answer.

Dawn's response confirmed it; "If we can't get you down there alive, then we're going to get you down there a different way."

Eager held his hands up to stop Dawn's line of thought. "Okay, you've had some crazy ideas before, but this is a bit too crazy. I'm with Spectre on this one, it's too risky."

Dawn glared at him. "Look, we've got to rescue the Heroes, right? This is the fastest way to get to them, and besides, there's something… familiar about this idea, I just don't…" The guidance came to Scorch for yet another time in the Vault, and she could almost see a thin white trail leading down through the air to the ground far below.

Scorch noted Dawn's deja vu, and realized what it meant. "If you're feeling a familiarity with the idea… then maybe that's how Ash, the Hero that you came from originally, managed to get their Hunter down as well. I mean, it's worth a shot."

Spectre tried to protest. "Scorch, please think rationally here. We're talking about _death_ here. It's not something to be trifled with, and is usually something one prefers to _avoid_." Scorch paid him no mind, and rotated her head questioningly to Dawn.

"Just jump off?" she inquired.

Dawn nodded in confirmation. "Just jump off." S

corch waved at Eager and Spectre. "Well, see you guys at the bottom!"

Before either could stop her, she took a running leap off the side of the ledge, and disappeared into the darkness of the depths below.

Spectre peered over the cliff, watching Scorch's thinking figure, and then turned to Dawn. "You better hope this pays off, because if it doesn't, then you're responsible." With that, the Ghost hovered over the edge and flew off to find where Scorch would impact. Eager just shook his head.

"Look, I understand where you're coming from. You're experienced, a split personality from one of the Heroes, albeit without any memories of before. You probably don't have many qualms about something like this." He held a hand up before she could object. "Don't argue, you know it's true. And it probably helps in a lot of ways. But Scorch and I? I was just a city task force member a few weeks ago. Scorch? She wasn't even a Guardian."

He pointed to her. "What you've got to understand is that you're not just Ash; you're Dawn now too. This isn't you and Aria and Matt anymore; it's you, Scorch, and me. We're a team, and we do things together or not at all. Understood?"

Dawn was mollified by what he'd said, and she silently nodded her head in submission. "Good." With that, Eager leapt off the ledge, intent on following Spectre and Scorch. After a moment alone on the top of the cliff, Dawn jumped as well.

Scorch felt cold air all around her as she fell fast through the air to the ground below. The only indications of how close she was to the ground were the glowing liquid rivers she'd spotted before. Their sparkling blue light steadily grew bigger in her field of view as she fast approached them. It was only then that she started getting second thoughts, and wondered how badly this was going to hurt. Would she feel it much? Every bone in her body shattering at once? Or would her consciousness immediately disappear until she was revived?

What if she wasn't revived? That thought came to her as a shock. But it was true, they were deep in Darkness territory. There was a possibility that Spectre didn't have enough light to revive someone. Either way, she'd have to live with the consequences. She was only about fifty feet before ground now, and she extended her hands purely out of instinct to prevent-

-X-

She was standing on some kind of rocky surface, just like the caves she'd just been in. But this was different, it wasn't in some cavern, it was outside, almost like she were on the outer edges of some volcanic region. The rocks jutted from the ground into the air, sharp and rough. Looking around, Scorch could see that for miles, there was nothing but patches of these volcanic-like rocky instances and relatively flat sandy dunes in all directions. Cold dry air blew through the land, causing her to shiver and draw her arms in for warmth as grains of sand flew through the air, pushed onward by the whims of weather.

She wondered where the hell she was. First she'd been falling, and then- _wait, was this the afterlife?_ If it was, it certainly wasn't impressive, unless she was supposed to be in awe over the raw emptiness of it. Indeed, the sheer vastness of it without any sign of life or otherwise was actually quite unsettling to her. She looked around once more for anything that could tell her where she was.

 _This is the Balance._ The voice, the same one from before came to her. She spun quickly around reaching for her holster, but found that her weapon wasn't there. "What do you mean?" she called, buying time for… hopefully something to get her out of here.

 _What you see before you, is what you will have wrought if you truly do bring about the Balance. Is this what you want?_

Scorch gasped slightly as she realized what it meant. Her destiny to activate the Balance was going to come to… this? This wasteland of destruction?

"Where am I?" She feared the answer, yet the voice only vaguely hinted, _Does it matter when this reality is true for everywhere?_

Scorch sank to her knees in anguish. If this had happened, or would happen everywhere… why was the Balance even remotely considered a good thing? How could something held in so bright a light come crashing down to something so… desolate?

"Who are you? Really?" She tried to get an answer out of the voice that plagued her. Surprisingly, it was unusually cooperative, though avoided specifics. _I take no name other than the one I give myself, and reject what fate had in store for me. I was the last before you, though we are different in our reactions to finding out about our pre-determined destiny._

"The last… hang on, are you…?" The name was on the tip of her tongue, yet refused to yield an answer. She racked her brains for the information, but it seemed to slip farther and farther out of her reach.

 _It is of no concern, all you need to know is my proposition._ The voice's tone had taken on a more seductive tone, as thought it were trying to persuade her. _Neither you nor I has any desire to see the world end like this. Join me, and together we can halt this, undo what fate has set in motion. It is the only way to prevent what will occur in future times._

Stopping this from happening definitely looked like a good offer. But there was something off about it, something she wasn't getting yet…

"Look, I don't mean to be rude. But I have a mission, and that mission is to save the Heroes, whether you like it or not." The voice snarled. _They will interrupt what we would seek to do, and perceive it as an act of war rather than one of mercy. They must not be allowed to interfere!_

She asked curiously, "So under no circumstances should I free them?"

 _Correct._

"Well then," she muttered, shrugging. "Looks like it's no deal from me. Better luck next time."

The voice screamed in fury, and she could feel it resonating within her skull, reverberating like a ball bouncing around the inside. She fell to her knees and watched as her vision went darker, darker…

-X-

"Scorch? Scorch, c'mon answer!"

She felt a warmth. Some kind of… sensation, much like there was liquid lava flowing through her veins. She felt powerful, strong…

Suddenly, the good feeling disappeared, and was replaced with a violent aching that she could feel everywhere on her body. It definitely wasn't still hurting, but it was more the memory of the impact that hurt. She can't have hit the ground longer than half a second, but it was still vivid in her mind, as was the pain apparently.

"You're lucky. Luckier than most." This all came from Spectre, who was floating over her face. The living polyhedron definitely had a tone of relief in his voice, likely due to the fact that she hadn't been stuck dead permanently. "I had enough reserves of light within me to revive you." Now, the Ghost turned to Eager. "I do apologize as well, but I had to use most of your spinmetal reserves to repair her armor…"

Eager sighed. "Better it than her, I suppose."

Dawn merely stood a few yards away, keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble. Scorch called to her, "Where are we?"

"Shhh." Dawn held a hand up to quiet Scorch. "Not so loud, we're not alone down here." Now the Hunter listened carefully, and true to Dawn's word, she could hear the sounds of _something_ dwelling down here in the deepest recesses of the cavern. It sounded like light squeals and electronic beeps, echoing around the walls of the chamber.

Spectre vibrated as usual when he was looking for information. "According to the tales of legend that the Vanguards told us about, there were several stages to the Vault. One, as we saw, was the Templar and its Oracles. I guess we know what those green things were now." He sorted through the data faster. "The next was the Gorgon's…Gorgons' Labryinth.

"Wait, Gorgon's as in possessive, like one? Or as in plural Gorgons?" Spectre spun quickly to narrow his eye at Eager's question of proper grammar.

"How the hell should I know? For that matter, I don't even know what a single Gorgon is, let alone if there are multiple!"

"Guys." Dawn's small request for attention sounded wary. "Can we continue this later? Those sounds are getting closer."

Scorch pointed at the Titan, and looked at the other two. "I agree with this girl's plan. Let's move!"

Quickly but stealthily, the trio and Ghost began to jog as quietly as possible toward a wall of rocks they saw between two rivers of liquid-flow. Scorch turned to Spectre. "Can you use some echolocation or something to point us in the right direction?"

The Ghost bobbed in the air, and then hovered up and over the rock for roughly a minute. When he came back, he bobbed again. "I've got some decent pings of the place, and I think I can get us through here." Scorch waved her arm forward to show that he was allowed to lead them.

Cautiously, he maneuvered himself to look around the corner of the rock wall. "Alright… follow me!"

Silently, the three Guardians trailed behind the Ghost as he sped towards a large rock structure that was protruding from the ground at an incline. Reaching frantically for grips and footholds, they scrambled their way up to the top of it. The beeps and screeches sounded close, but whatever it was was still out of sight.

"Alright, get to the top of the next rock!" said Spectre, indicating another massive chunk of rock that was shunted into the ground.

"Why are we staying off the ground?" whispered Eager.

The Ghost faced him. "Because whatever a 'Gorgon' is, I think it's meandering around the passages of the cave, looking for us." Spectre's answer wasn't reassuring in the slightest, but it definitely answered the male Exo's question. Quietly, he took the first leap across the nearly four yard gap. With his built-in stabilizers, the Warlock made it safely across.

Scorch jumped next, using her momentum to propel her. She reached out and grabbed Eager's waiting arm as she began to fall down to the ground below, and he pulled her to the side of the rock. Clean and efficient. She waved backwards for Dawn to join them.

The Titan took a running leap, but apparently stood on too weak an outcrop of rock. The piece she'd stepped on crumbled under her weight, and she tripped. She fell down the twenty or so feet to the rocky ground, and landed hard on her front. Groaning, she began to push herself back up onto her knees using her hands, but stopped when she heard the electronic beeps and squeals alarmingly close. Very carefully, she slowly lifted her head to see what was in front of her.

It looked like a harpy, but much more disturbing. It was black and turquoise in color, with a whitish glow towards the rear that almost looked like moving fire. The colors of its body shifted constantly, like a chameleon's camouflage. Little antennae sprouted from all along its body, searching every direction for some target to lock onto. Dawn knew that the Vex were inorganic, but she'd heard rumors that they had originally once been biological, and this thing seemed very… _alive_.

Its white eye spun around, still looking for her. She realized that it could not see her, and was likely either listening for sounds to pinpoint her, or was looking for signs of movement as some creatures' eyesight were based on. She held perfectly still as to avoid all chances of it becoming aware of her presence. As it slowly inched closer to her in its curious state, it took every ounce of willpower she had not to start sprinting to any place other than the one she was currently in.

It antennae reached forward, and began probing her helmet. She felt herself begin to shake slightly, but continued to endure. After a few moments or so, they retracted, and the Gorgon moved on back the way it had come, having not found anything to be of concern.

She waited at least ten seconds until it was out of sight to move again, and quickly ran to the side of the rock wall that Scorch and Eager sat upon up above. Once she'd climbed high enough, they reached down and helped her to the top.

"You have no idea how shot my nerves are…" whispered Eager concernedly, "I thought you were a goner."

Scorch said nothing at first, but simply grabbed Dawn's shoulder lightly to comfort her. "You alright?"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit shaken up. It doesn't matter, we're running out of time. Where to now, Spectre?" The Ghost paused for a second before answering, likely out of respect for Dawn's bravery.

"Just through that hole down there. From what I can gather, there's a network of tunnels through there that will lead to where we need to go. Just wait for my go." Dutifully, the Seekers sat silently on the rock, poised to make a break for it as soon as the Ghost gave the word.

The squeals and beeps became slightly fainter as the Gorgon moved farther away, and Spectre whispered, "Now!"

They were jolted into action, and vaulted over the rock face to the ground below. Absorbing the impact in their knees, they rolled and turned it into momentum, then continued to run through the hole that Spectre had told them about. The sounds they heard were nothing but the echoes of their armored feet hitting the ground repeatedly, bouncing off the cave walls. They did not stop running until they were absolutely sure that the Gorgon was not coming after them, at which point Scorch collapsed on the ground out of exhaustion, Eager aimed his gun at the hole where they'd come from to prevent any unwanted company, and Dawn walked through a man-sized crevice to see where they were going next.

"Whoa. Guys, come look at this." Dawn's voice came from the other side of the crevice, and Scorch and Eager looked at each other. Standing up from the ground, the Hunter jogged over to pass through the crack in wall, and Eager cautiously followed behind.

Upon exiting the crevice, Scorch found herself standing on a small ledge of Vex-stone overlooking yet another massive gorge. In front of them and across the chasm was a massive architectural marvel of Vex-stone that made up a series of peculiar structures, lining the entirety of the far wall.

"Well, that's probably where we need to go," muttered Eager, just now exiting the crevice. "But how do we get across?"

As if in response to his question, a large floating platform of cubic Vex-stone materialized in the air, appearing in a rapid wave of pixels. Scorch waved her companions forward. "C'mob, I'm pretty sure that thing's not gonna last forever!"

They leapt onto the platform just as another one began to come into existence slightly farther below, and in front of their current position. Before their eyes, the platform they were on began to dematerialize. "Run!" ordered Scorch, and the trio sprinted to the edge just in time to jump to the next stable ground.

They repeated the process several times until a platform brought them close enough to the far wall. "Alright, everyone get to that ledge!" Scorch pointed at an extended chunk of Vex-stone that stuck out from the wall like a landing pad. Heeding her advice, Dawn and Eager leapt off and used their stabilizers to boost them forward enough so that they made the distance to the ledge. Scorch followed them closely, pushing off with all the force she could muster in her legs.

Unlike previous times, she actually managed to stick the landing this time, and rolled forward with her momentum rather than coming up short on the jump. Standing back up, she looked to see the platform they'd just been standing on disappear in another pulse of pixels.

"I guess we just walk up there?" Eager indicated a passageway a few meters in front of them. Tentatively, they began walking through it. At the end of the hall, they could see a small staircase of broken, crumbling steps nearly ten feet in width, more than enough room for them to ascend together. Scorch took the lead, Dawn at her right and Eager at her left. From the age of this place, there was quite a bit of dust from the Vex-stone that had accumulated near the top. Dawn gasped, and beckoned for Scorch's attention.

"Look!" Gazing down to where Dawn was pointing in the dust, Scorch saw six sets of footprints. Three of them were old, old enough that the dust had literally formed solid around them, and their prints were now molds in the stone. But three of them were newer, and the set in the middle looked identical to the Hunter boot footprints they'd found on Venus.

"The Heroes," Scorch whispered, "they made it here."

Eager gestured at the older ones. "Those ones there are almost unrecognizable. If I had to guess, they belong to Kabr, Praedyth, and Pahanin, the three in the legend of the Vault. I guess they _were_ real."

Scorch felt her skin crawling, This was likely the most dangerous place they could possibly be, not just at being in the Vex's stronghold, but because of how little they knew. Who was the voice that had been talking to them? If there Heroes were here for five years, how had they not died in that time? Were they the ones who sent the signal? What was the conflux of time, the one that the Hall of Whispers had spoken about? What did her being a Child of Light have to do with this? Was the Balance truly good, or would it cause the destruction the voice said it would? All of this swam in Scorch's mind, threatening to overwhelm her.

The Vault decided that she'd had enough time to think. Without warning, a symbol engraved on the wall in front of them and the stairs lit up, turning a bright blue that glowed in the darkness. The symbol was of three triangles, each one inside of the next consecutive one. The smallest one, the one in the center, was split in two vertically. As they watched, the wall split along this seam and revealed itself to actually be an entry way. It revealed a large chamber inside, a sight which they all gasped at. Spectre hovered closer to them, also in shock.

"We made it… we're inside the Vault of Glass."


	24. Hunters of Light

The massive chamber they now stood in was symmetrical, with two diverging paths; one to the left, and one to the right. Everywhere they looked, Vex bodies lay strewn about and broken, rusting in their exposed state. In the center was a platform, isolated like an island. Farther ahead was where the two sides of the room came together again, to form a massive stage-like structure with a set of stairs to some area above. The most incredible thing, however, was the scenery.

Behind the far centric stage was an array of dazzling shattered glass, hovering about in the air like some art display. Broken pieces littered the area in the back of the room, forming a massive throne-like image above the stage staircase. It would have been almost beautiful, if Scorch hadn't been thinking about where they came from, which was from the lair of the Vex's ultimate conflux.

"Look," Dawn whispered to Scorch, and pointed at either side of the room. There were pillars with rings around them, much like the ones they'd used to get in the Vault in the first place. "Okay, so those obviously do something. But I wonder what…?" Her voice trailed off as she noticed the two Vex time-gates that were standing vertically in Vex-stone a few feet in front of each ring. She began to get an idea of what was going to happen.

"So we activate the time-gates, and then what? Just go through them?" Eager's question sounded as though he were frustrated, and Scorch didn't blame him. This whole mission had been one puzzle after another, and here they were at the heart of it all with yet another complication.

But once again, the guidance came over Scorch. There was a strong urge she had, one of the most overwhelming feelings as of yet, to head over to the pillar on the right, and stand inside its radius. She had already begun taking the first step when a sudden blue light began to emanate on the stage-like platform in the very back of the room. It glowed brightly, and Scorch felt a weight in her stomach, not unlike one where she'd swallowed a large rock. Within a few seconds, some massive being appeared, and Eager muttered, "Well, shit."

Standing where the light had been was a large Vex warrior. It looked as though its torso made up almost the entirety of its mass, with a somewhat upside-down triangular shape for a body, and a larger version of the signature white core that all Vex had in the lower regions of their abdomens. It had two large spike-like protrusions emitting from the back of its head, like the ears of a jackal. In the center of its head was a singular whitish-blue eye which immediately focused on them, and narrowed menacingly.

"I don't think it likes us very much," said Eager, and the new threat roared in confirmation. Vex soldiers began to pour in from all sides of the arena in response to its call.

"Everyone, to the right!" yelled Scorch, and she took off sprinting for the pillar she'd been attracted to earlier. Dawn and Eager followed behind her, trying to avoid several bombardments of void projectiles that the large Vex had begun to fire from a cannon on its arm. Sliding into cover behind a raised block of Vex-stone, Scorch took a moment to catch her breath while red lasers from the other Vex danced around in the air. Dawn slid right next to her, and bumped shoulders. Eager fell into place next to her.

"Alright, what's the plan here?" she asked. Panting, Scorch racked her brains. They'd been trying so hard to get here, and now that they were finally where they needed to be, she was coming up blank. Taking a few deep breaths, she steadied herself and thought of a strategy. Scorch pointed at the pillar, and then the time-gate.

"Those pillars have got to activate the time-gates like we thought. My… that feeling I get, the guidance? It's telling me to get in there. I need you two keeping this gate open no matter what while I get inside."

Dawn nodded enthusiastically. "No problem! C'mon, Eager. Let's do this!" Pushing herself upright, she grabbed Eager's hand and helped him up as well, then proceeded to step into the pillar's radius. Immediately, the white cubic lights began to appear, pixelating into existence to form a circular wall rising from the ring on the ground. A wavy sort of effect began to take shape in the center of the time gate, like a ripple in space. Suddenly, a portal opened where the effect had been, and stretched itself to the boundaries of the gate.

The Hunter looked at her Ghost. "Spectre, I need you to stay here in case they run into trouble. Whatever happens, they cannot be allowed to fail!"

He bobbed in the air. "You can count on me, Scorch."

Scorch gave a quick nod to her companions. "Stay here, keep that gate open no matter what!" Dawn saluted her in confirmation, and then continued to fire upon a Harpy that had come a little too close for comfort.

Eager waved her forward. "Just go, we've got this!" Heeding his advice, Scorch pulled the Last Word from her holster, clambered up the block of Vex-stone, and charged through the portal.

Eager looked over at the waves of Vex enemies approaching them, intent on stopping them from keeping the portal open. He sighed as he reloaded his weapon. "Today sucks."

-X-

Scorch felt herself fall onto the ground. Pushing herself up, she turned to see that she'd fallen out of the portal onto a large platform composed of Vex-stone. So she was still in the core of Venus? But then-

Looking up, she was surprised to see the sky. The implications of this suddenly made themselves abundantly clear in her mind as she looked around to see nothing but Vex structures all over the surface of the planet. This was a Venus that had been taken over completely by the Vex. Did that mean she was in the future, or what? Shaking her head to clear the unpleasant thoughts, she began to walk forward on the platform.

The sound of something metal clanking against the stone drew her attention. It appeared to have come from above a staircase in front of , she began to ascend the steps with her hand cannon drawn and ready to fire should anything jump at her.

When she reached the top of the staircase, she saw a long stretch of Vex-stone with nothing else in sight, save for a scrap of metal that looked to have belonged to a Vex body laying on the ground suspiciously. She walked over to it, and knelt down. She pondered on where it had come from before she heard a footstep and began to turn-

A fist came from behind her as she turned, and slammed into the side of her helmet, near her jaw. The shock of the impact forced her to relinquish her grip on the Last Word, and it fell away skidding across the ground. She leaned backward, and rolled over with her momentum to reach a standing position. Her assailant moved too fast for her to get a good look at them, and began to assault her again. She held her forearm up to stop a knife-wielding hand of the attacker, and used her free arm to smack them square in the solar plexus. Wheezing, they hunched over to gain their breath back, giving Scorch a chance to raise her leg up, and kick them in the abdomen, sending them reeling backwards.

"You're good, I'll give you that," said the attacker with a tone of respect in his voice. "But you've caught me on a bad day." It was a person wearing black Hunter armor with white highlights, though they had no cloak. Scorch's first thought was that they had scavenged the armor off of someone else.

Scorch raised her arms to show she meant no harm. "I don't want to fight you. I'm a Guardian of the city, and I'm-"

He waved her claims aside before she'd even finished speaking. "There are no Guardians here. Believe me, we've checked. This is a future of Venus, and there's nothing but Vex here. So who the hell are you?"

The voice sounded familiar, and suddenly the 'we've' pronoun he used clicked in Scorch's brain, and she threw caution to the wind on a hunch.

"You used to have white and blue armor, didn't you?"

The attacker froze up for a second. "How- how would you know…?"

Two others came up behind the stranger, one wearing black and maroon Titan armor, and the other wearing similarly colored white and rose-highlighted Warlock garments to the ones that Scorch had seen all those years ago. "When you said you heard something, I didn't think you'd find this," said the Titan, gesturing at Scorch.

The Warlock gave her a quizzical cock of the head and asked, "Who are you?"

Scorch shakily pulled the hood of her cloak back, and raised her hands up to grasp the sides of her helmet, pulling it away from the seal around her neck, and revealing her tousled brown hair and amber eyes.

"Matt… Ash… Aria!" She said their names with genuine joy in her voice, and they all seemed to be very taken aback by her enthusiasm.

"Yes, those are our names. What about it?" asked Matt. Scorch took a deep breath, and began to explain.

"I've been searching for you for a while now, my entire team has… it's so great to see you all again!" Matt's head tilted slightly. "Again? Have we met before?"

Scorch jerked a bit. "Oh, right! I don't know if you'd remember, but my name is Scorch."

Aria shrugged in confusion. "What kind of a name is Scorch…?" She stopped short as Scorch pointed to the long scar on her cheek.

Stunned, Matt began to take off his helmet as well for likely the first time in a while. Ash and Aria followed their leader's example, and removed the obstacles obscuring their faces. For the very first time, Scorch actually could see what they looked like. Matt, had short brown hair, green eyes, and basically looked like a normal human, whereas Aria had lavender colored hair tossed behind her and to the side in a sort of teenager style along with blue skin as an Awoken. Ash was surprisingly similar to Dawn; she was white with silver accents, and had bright electric blue eyes. There were a few differences, but by and large, she could have been Dawn's twin. The only real difference was that Dawn had more black accents on her as well.

"Oh my…" Aria beckoned to the Hunter. "Matt, it's… it's her! The one we saved in the battle for the Traveler!" He seemed to be in awe of the situation, and walked forward a few feet.

"How-? How is this possible?"

Scorch smiled. "Well, it's a long story as to how I got here, but basically-"

"Not that," he dismissed, "I mean your age. Last time we saw you, you were a thirteen year old girl, and that was two years ago. So why do you look like you're twenty?" Scorch's mouth quickly made an 'o' shape. She hadn't prepared for this, not yet anyway. She didn't know how else to tell them the truth other than launching into it, and getting it over with.

"Alright, well… this isn't the easiest to explain…" She scratched her head to procrastinate, much to the consternation of the Heroes.

"What isn't easy to explain?" growled Ash. Scorch exhaled slightly.

"You've been missing for five years, so it's technically been seven years since I last saw you."

Ash made a sound like she was choking, Aria gasped, and Matt simply stood there silent for a moment. "F-five years?" he stammered. Scorch nodded. "But that's impossible, we've only been here for… how long has it been, Seraph?"

A Ghost popped up on his shoulder and looked at him. "It's been two weeks, three days, and eleven hours."

Matt gestured at Seraph to Scorch. "See? So, how the hell have we been missing for five years?"

Seraph piped up once more. "Actually, it isn't too difficult to imagine. Considering that this is a potential future of Venus, and the time-gates are the only things linking this future to the past, once that connection is severed it would be nearly impossible to align those realities again. We're lucky that it managed to link up so close to our original time-line."

Scorch raised her hand for a question. "About that… how did you guys end up stranded here in the first place?"

Matt sighed. "It's a long story." Scorch continued to stare at him expectantly, showing she had nothing but time right now. He conceded.

"Well, we came here by suggestion of the Stranger. She mentioned how the Darkness was about to use another one of its many plans to end the reign of light, and well… it's kind of our job to stop that from happening." He gave a slight chuckle. "I'll admit, we were a bit arrogant. After we got our info from the Hall of Whispers in the Ishtar Archive, we realized we were a bit out of our league."

"How did you get around the mind-core?" asked Scorch.

Matt seemed surprised. "You found it too? Honestly, it wasn't that difficult. Seraph ran an algorithm and found that they were able to imitate every likely action of ours, but also unlikely ones. She studied them and found one solution to run through the computer, and found that all the copies were forced to follow the action, but I couldn't."

Scorch raised an eyebrow. "And what action was that?"

"She ran a simulation of the three of us holding guns to one another- attacking one another. And we just… we could never do that. Nothing except for a computer could do that." Both of the other two nodded approvingly, and Scorch remarked on how much a family they were.

"How did you even get to the point where you started tracking us?" Scorch looked over at Aria's face which seemed curious. Scorch exhaled slightly.

"Well, to understand that, I've got to explain my side of the story." Aria nodded in agreement, and waved for her to continue.

Scorch took a deep breath. "Well, when you rescued me all those years ago, my first line of thought was to become a Guardian like you three." She motioned to the Warlock. "You inspired me the most, telling me how we shouldn't let fear rule us, but use it to our advantage with bravery." The Awoken girl smiled happily that she had encouraged the now-Hunter.

"But things didn't pan out that way. I lost my home, my family, and ended up living on the streets for a bit. Once Spectre, my Ghost, began taking care of me, I got into illegal Sparrow-racing to make ends meet for him and I. But I was called in by the Vanguards to help them solve a puzzle; a mystery transmission arrived at the Tower, originating from Venus. It contained two components; a corrupted message, and a soul."

"A soul?" asked Ash questioningly. Scorch nodded.

"The soul was from you. You jettisoned a fragment of your old persona, the Warrior, either as a way to help and guide me, or simply to show that you all were alive. Maybe both?" But Ash shook her head. "I haven't done anything of the sort! We've sent all kinds of transmissions, but they didn't get responses; we couldn't send anything back to our own time without the portal open. And even then, that's a time-gate. It could end up anywhere in that network of realities."

Scorch was confused for a moment before the answer hit her. "Of course, because it hasn't happened yet! But now, the portal is open! You can send it now!"

Ash appeared doubtful. "I don't know, I'm not sure that time works that way…"

Scorch shook her head to reject Ash's thoughts. "Of course it does, or at least it will; because it's already happened. You can't rewrite the past! Or, at least not yet, anyway."

The Titan sighed. "Alright, I'll try." Facing the portal down below, Ash screwed her face up in concentration, and her blue eyes began to wink on and off quite rapidly. After a few moments, the odd behavior stopped, and she nearly fell over. Matt leaned over and held her upright.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded in his arms.

"I think- I think it worked. You said that the personality is one of your team members?"

Scorch nodded. "Yeah, we're the Seekers. Figured that we might as well have a cool name while we looked for you. In any case, once Dawn and Eager joined me, we set out to find you based on the messages's contents."

"I don't know why we'd need to send a message now of all times, considering you're already here," said Matt, and Scorch had to admit he had a point. Why would they send the other distress message when she'd just saved them? She shook her head, and decided to work out that mystery later.

"Anyway, you never finished your story. What happened after you proved you were real?" Matt nodded, and picked up where they'd left off.

"After we proved we were real, the mind-core killed all of our copies, and summoned quite a few Vex to stop us. Lost my cloak in the escape, but I think we came away pretty decently. Fast forwarding a bit down the road, we ended up inside the Vault, evaded the Templar and Gorgons, and finally made it to Atheon's arena."

Scorch held her palm up to stop him. "Hold on, who's Atheon?"

Matt frowned. "Atheon is a large Vex leader, their conflux of time. With him still alive, the Vex hold a scary amount of power over time itself."

Scorch snapped her fingers. "So that's who the conflux is, that's probably the giant Vex that I saw a few minutes ago." Matt nodded.

"Yeah. In any case, we knew to look for the other Aegis's, the last gift of Kabr. He created them as he died, for others to hopefully combat Atheon and the Templar. We opened a time-gate, and I went inside with Ash to find this one's Aegis, but the forces outside overwhelmed Aria, and she was forced to retreat into the portal. With no one outside keeping it open… we were trapped here, unable to do anything." He gestured around at the surrounding landscape, full of Vex-stone buildings and mossy growth. "We've been living off stored rations our Ghosts kept with them, but we expected to run out in about a month. If you hadn't found us…" He didn't finish the thought.

Scorch cleared her throat. "So, is Atheon the threat you were all hoping to destroy?" To her utter shock, Matt shook his head.

"No. Atheon's control over time is worrisome to be sure, but… there is something, someone far more dangerous. See, Atheon only operates within limitations of his power, of the Vex's ability to travel through time. But there's someone who entered the Vault long ago, and literally became one with the conflux that lives within Atheon in order to find a way to change time itself. The only way to kill him is to destroy Atheon."

"Who is it?" asked Scorch. She remembered the voice in her hallucination; _Join me, and together we can halt this, undo what fate has set in motion._ As Matt said it, the name finally clicked in Scorch's mind, and Matt's answer confirmed her fears.

"Kaine, the Consumed."

"The Consumed…" A shiver crawled up Scorch's spine. Matt nodded. "We need to stop him, or he'll eventually take control of Atheon's abilities, and wipe out everything we've worked to build; all in the name of defying destiny."

 _Well, so far it has worked._ The voice which Scorch now knew belonged to Kaine, came from nowhere, and yet, seemingly everywhere at once. The Heroes immediately entered a combat position, and trained their aim on various areas in their line of sight. Scorch meanwhile, stood dumbfounded.

 _Scorch, you know that I'm right. I showed you what the Balance will do. All you need to do is leave them here, and it will never become a reality._ Startled, the Heroes turned to face Scorch with expressions of fear in their eyes. Scorch had originally thought that finding the Heroes was her destiny. But if her destiny involved bringing about the Balance and all that destruction, was it so wrong to turn away from it and save who she could?

 _Scorch…_ Kaine's voice sounded like the audio of temptation itself, and she made up her mind. No matter what, the Heroes were her priority, and she was getting them out alive.

"I'd suggest you put our helmets on, and get ready to kick some Vex ass." The Heroes smiled, and complied. As Matt fastened his own helmet on, Scorch suddenly held something out to him, and he turned to see what it was.

Sitting in her hand was the Hawkmoon. "Cayde said that I should return this to you when I found you… looks like I can finally do that." He picked it up with absolute care in his touch, his face full of awe.

Locking gazes with her, he gave a quick nod of appreciation. "Thank you, truly. I've been missing this for a bit."

Scorch nodded in response, and began to reach back to her cloak. "Now that I think about it, I believe this belongs to you too…" He shook his head.

"Nah, you keep that. You took a vow, and followed it through. That cloak is yours now, just a tradition of us Hunters. Take care of it." Pulling her hand away from the hood, she nodded again in gratefulness.

Matt grabbed a cartridge of ammo from his belt, and loaded the Hawkmoon. Scorch picked up the Last Word from the ground, and checked to make sure that it too was loaded. Ash and Aria appeared to be ready to leave, and waited at their leader's word. He turned to his Ghost which was zipping happily above his head.

"Seraph? I need the Aegis." A blue light began to appear in the air, and suddenly another Aegis like the one Scorch had used materialized in the air, landing neatly in Matt's arms. He turned to Scorch.

"These Aegis's are the only things that can damage Atheon; as a conflux of time itself, he can't be harmed by normal weaponry, only distracted. This one will help, but the other one needs to be found as well, the one in the other portal. Are you ready?" Scorch accepted this all without question, and gave a thumbs up without hesitation. He turned back to the portal.

"Alright… Heroes! And Seeker," he added, "let's do this!" Sprinting down the steps, all four Guardians ran up to the time-gate's portal, and charged through to the other side.

Scorch felt a rubber-band like feeling, as though she were being pulled back, and then snapped forward across time, skipping like a stone through reality. With a jolt, she landed on the other side of the portal, and looked around to see Eager and Dawn still in the ring, holding off waves of enemies. Eager noticed her.

"Where the hell have you-?" His question died in his throat as he saw who was with her. "Holy shit…"

Dawn too, looked up to see Scorch and the Heroes standing there. "You did it Scorch! You found them!"

Scorch and the Heroes ran down the greet them. "Close the portal," she ordered, and both of her companions complied happily, stepping out of the ring immediately. The portal ceased to exist, and the time-gate stood empty once more. The waves of enemies that had come in response to the open portal had disappeared now that there was nothing to defend.

Ash walked over to Dawn and looked her over. Dawn did the same, and both had the same expression of mild discomfort on their faces. "This is…" began Ash.

"Awkward?" Dawn supplied.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, that's the word. I mean, are you like a sister, or a daughter, or…?" Dawn shook her head emphatically.

"Let's go with twin, or sister alright? But definitely not daughter. Ick."

Ash nodded. "Alright. Just so I know since you're a copy of me, you don't have any interest in taking my place, do you?"

Dawn shook her head. "No thank you, I may be a clone of you, but I'm my own person too." She looked over at Eager, nodding at him in reference to the understanding they'd come to earlier. "I've got no interest in taking anything from you whatsoever."

Ash's voice sounded like she'd just grinned. "Alright then, we're good. Pleasure to meet you."

Eager waved both arms to get everyone's attention. "Hey, did we forget about the whole reason for us being here?" Everyone stared in bewilderment until they heard Atheon roar again from behind them.

"Yep, kinda forgot about the big guy!" yelled Matt as he raised the Aegis on his left arm, and held up the Hawkmoon with his right. "C'mon, let's get to that other portal!"

Jolted into action by Matt's call, they began to sprint to the other side of the arena towards the left pillar. They went to work, standing inside the pillar's radius and preparing themselves for the onslaught of enemies. Matt turned to Scorch.

"Alright, you're up kid."

She jerked abruptly. "Wait, me?" He nodded.

"Yeah, you! We got this Aegis down, it's only fitting that you get the next one! Plus, with five people out here, we'll have a much better chance of keeping the portal open and not marooning you in time," he joked. She felt her knees get slightly shaky, but nodded her agreement all the same.

The time-gate opened right as Vex Goblins and Harpies appeared on cue. All of the other Guardians opened fire to prevent them from reaching the ring. "Go, now!" ordered Matt. Letting out a small breath, Scorch charged into the time-gate.

Once again, she didn't watch her footing and fell upon the ground on the other side. But this environment was much different than the potential future of Venus; this place was hot, rocky, and everywhere she looked there was nothing but chunks of rock, bits of Vex-stone, and grayish dirt. The air had a slight red tinge to it, making her first think she was on Mars; but then she realized that if the portal on the right had been the future of Venus, then this must be its past, before it had been terraformed by humans.

She walked cautiously. Like the other reality, there was a staircase here too. She walked up it just like she had the other one, and roughly twenty feet in front of her was the Aegis, hovering above the ground. She quickly ran to it, and grabbed it happily. It had been much easier than she'd expected.

 _Fool._ Kaine's voice appeared once again from nowhere, and she raised the Last Word to the air threateningly.

"Leave me alone! You can't escape fate forever!"

 _Is that so?!_ His voice reverberated with unbound fury, and Scorch wondered whether she'd finally crossed the line. In a moment of complete surprise, a shadowy figure began to take shape behind her, blocking her way back to the portal. She furrowed her brows in frustration.

The shadow was obviously of a male figure, but it was pitch black like a void, and black-colored flames licked its body all around. _You've overstepped your boundaries young one. I offered you a chance to make a real difference, and you spat in my face. Now, you shall suffer the consequences, and see what a true master of time and destiny can do!_

His arms spread apart, and as they did so, a white aura began to glow around him. Just as Scorch wondered what the hell he was doing, the portal back to Atheon's arena disappeared in a flash of light, deactivated by Kaine.

"Wha…? NO!" she screamed. A deep raspy chuckle came from him, like the sound of a thousand snakes slithering over sandy ground. _Now,_ _let us talk._

There was a flash of light, and in an instant, neither shadow nor Guardian occupied the landscape and it was empty once more.

-X-

The other Guardians continued to fight the endless waves of enemies with determination in their minds and movements. The Heroes fought to repay Scorch's deed, and the remaining Seekers fought to keep their friend alive.

Suddenly, the time-gate switched off. All present stared at it in shock, not processing what had just happened.

"SCORCH!" Spectre cried, his synthetic voice full of pain and loss.

"What- is she gone?" asked Eager, his own pitch in tone unnaturally high.

Dawn hesitated for a moment, then shook her head furiously. "No, I don't believe it! We hold this position, and remain here until that portal opens back up!"

Under Dawn's courage and rallying order, the Guardians were reinvigorated to fight, and the chamber continued to be filled with the sound of warfare.

-X-

Scorch opened her eyes, and saw that she was lying on the ground, head against a familiar looking terrain of sand. Standing up, she looked around to confirm her suspicions.

She was back in the destroyed landscape that Kaine had shown her before when he first spoke about the Balance. Everything down to the last crumbling rocky formation was identical, except now a shadow stood with her as well. The only thing that had come with her was the Aegis on her arm.

 _Need I remind you about this? What your fate will bring to those you care about?_

She shook her head to ward his persuasion away. "I already know, and I made up my mind. This can't be the whole answer. For all I know, this is the just what you want for the city, for Earth!"

Kaine shook his shadowy head. _You mistake me for some sort of genocidal maniac._ _My only goal has been to escape my predestination. Now, if something happens to be in my way… well, it must be dealt with accordingly._

Scorch jabbed a thumb at herself. "Well, guess what asshole? Now it's me that's in your way."

 _So it is._ He sounded resigned to this outcome. _Are you certain you'd like to continue along this path?_

Scorch held up her fists, one of which was holding her Hunter's dagger. "Not a doubt in my mind."

Kaine ground his teeth with the sound of scraping metal. _Very well._

With a speed that far outclassed her own, Kaine closed the distance between them and backhanded her. She went flying backwards through the air, and landed in a heap upon the dark grayish-black sand. She tried to stand back up, but found that her enemy had other ideas.

The Consumed had already made his way over to her, and proceeded to pick her up by the back of the neck with shadowy flaming arms. She could feel his touch burning the skin of her neck, and she cried out in pain. He simply laughed in the face of her torture, and threw her towards a cluster of the rocky protrusions coming from the ground.

She hit it back-first, and not only felt, but heard something crack. She reached down to her lower left side of her abdomen to find that one of her ribs had cracked. She would have asked Spectre to begin healing her, but realized with a dry feeling in her mouth that Spectre was still with the other Guardians. She was alone with…

Looking up, she saw him looming over her. He pulled one large fist back, intent on finishing her. Thinking quickly, she used one last option and held up the Aegis to protect herself. By her will, it fired a beam of energy like the ones they'd used against the Templar, and it hit Kaine in the center of his mass. The beam burnt a hole right through him, and sent him staggering backwards. Groaning, he looked down to see the gap in his chest. Scorch realized that something so dark as Kaine could never withstand the light of something so pure like Kabr's Aegis, created literally from his selfless dying mind as a way to help others.

 _I-impossible…_ he grunted, straining to keep himself upright. He looked up in time to see Scorch barreling toward him, Aegis in hand. Spinning artistically like a ballerina, she twirled and used her centrifugal force to drive even more power into the impact of the Aegis slamming into him. The blow caused him to completely lose his footing on the ground, and he flew backwards several meters onto the dunes of sand.

 _Ugh…_ He tried to push himself back onto his feet, but the sight of Scorch standing there with the Aegis stopped him. He glared at her, and she knew she had his attention.

"You forget that the very thing you have been attempting to destroy all your life gives me an advantage," she spat, her voice full of anger and determination. "My destiny gives me an advantage, an understanding that I _will_ beat you, and I _will_ save the Heroes." Kaine took deep breaths, struggling to regain his composure.

 _You… may have defeated this… ethereal projection of myself…_ he said each word slowly and with a malicious tone. _You may even destroy the conflux which lives within Atheon, and banish me from this realm forever… but this so-called advantage you think your fate gives you… it will turn on you quickly. You will not be able to escape it as I did for so long before it becomes your undoing. And in your final moments, as you perish under the culminant weight of all your sins against me… I will be there, watching, and reveling in your sorrow._

Scorch shrugged. "Get in line." And with that, she held the Aegis out, and let off one more bight beam of energy which engulfed the Consumed. He screamed in agony, until there was nothing left to scream, and his particles were systematically broken down and dispersed throughout the air. After she looked to see that he had truly gone, she sank to her knees in despair.

"What do I do now?" she asked aloud. She herself had no clue who she was talking to, but found it easier to imagine that she was directing the question at her guidance. It had influenced her so well before, but now… there was nothing. Had she fulfilled her destiny? Was it her fate to live out the rest of her life in this barren wasteland?

She thought about sending a transmission out, but remembered what Ash had said before; _We've sent all kinds of transmissions, but they didn't get responses; we couldn't send anything back to our own time without the portal open._ Even if she did try to contact someone, there's no way she could manage to reach them. With nothing else to do, she found herself reflecting back on the message.

Who had tried to send it? And better yet, for what purpose? It had sounded like someone had been trying to be rescued from being trapped, but she'd already saved the Heroes. So who else…?

A thought came to her. There was only one other person that it could have been, unlikely as it was. Although, the more she mulled it over, the probability seemed to increase. For Scorch to have begun her mission in the first place and make her way here to the Vault of Glass, there needed to be a message. So someone needed to send that message, and who was more equipped to do that than her? She was a child of light, she had more powerful connection with the light of the Traveler, and how it flows through the universe. Who's to say that she couldn't force her message through time? It was worth a shot at least.

"This is…" She thought hard for a moment on how to disguise her identity. "…a Guardian, reporting from the Vault of Glass. The lost are here, the lost Heroes are here! But they need someone to rescue them, someone to take on an urgent mission. They found something darker than any of us could have imagined." She debated whether or not to mention Kaine, and decided against it since she'd never known about him while embarking on the mission. She didn't want to rewrite time itself like the Consumed did. "In any case, you need to find Scorch, find Scorch and she will be able to save them."

As she spoke, she realized that the timelines perfectly coincided with one another, and she laughed in her awareness. "So that's why I'm a child of light! My being a child of light, the Balance, it all makes sense now! Or, at least the Balance part will later I'm sure." She shook her head, and focused back on sending the transmission. "Please, she's their last chance for survival. Over and…" Before she cut the connection, she looked around to see if the portal had reappeared, but there was nothing to be seen. "Oh, what's the use. Might as well transmit all I can."

Before she could give up, however, another unlikely thought occurred to her. Kaine, as a former child of light, had managed to completely sever her connection in time to the portal. Perhaps she, as another child of light, could remove the blockage, and allow the portal to reopen. She scrunched up her eyes in absolute concentration, and wished for nothing more than for her to escape this nightmarish place. As she did so, she felt an almost physical weight bearing down on her, as though she were literally lifting away the obstacle with her mind.

"C'mon, Scorch…" she muttered to herself with strain in her voice as the weight of lifting it was now affecting her actual body as well, with massive amounts of pain emanating from the region of her broken rib. With great effort, she mentally lifted it higher… higher, and… away!

Instantly, a white flash began to engulf her. "My God, it's opening!" The landscape around her disappeared, and she found herself back in the past of Venus, the reddish air surrounding her. Looking up, she saw that the time-gate had reactivated upon her arrival back in normal-reality. "We're gonna make it out of here after all!" With that, she severed the transmission connection, realizing that it was no longer needed.

Prehistoric Vex began to materialize into existence around her, with a seemingly universal goal of stopping her from reaching the time-gate. Done with dealing with similar encounters, her only response was to leap into the air, and let loose several Shadowshots. They planted themselves in both the ground and the chests of minotaurs, and latched onto every available Vex they could. Not stopping to stay and find out what would happen, she sprinted forth with every ounce of effort she had, and leapt through the portal.

There was another terrifying sensation of rubber-banding, as well as a free-fall like feeling. With a jolt, she landed on a block of Vex-stone, and looked up. The Heroes and other Seekers were there, still standing inside the ring.

"Close the portal! Quick!" she barked hoarsely. The others did so unquestioningly, and the time-gate ceased to be active.

"Scorch!" called Dawn happily, and she ran forward to hug her friend. Eager followed closely behind and placed his hand on her shoulder as Dawn was taking up most of the space. The Heroes walked over to her with smiles in their voices.

"Glad to see you made it out of there in one piece," said Matt. He cocked his head curiously. "What the hell happened though? First the portal turned off, and then-"

"It's a bit complicated to explain, but we've got bigger problems." Scorch turned and pointed at Atheon, still looking at them with hatred. "He needs to die, NOW, or else Kaine will have won. I've seen what he's capable of, and needs to be stopped."

Matt nodded in understanding, and hefted up the Aegis on his arm. His entire body began to crackle with electricity as he gave his speech; "You heard her people, this thing has lived for five years longer than it should have! We're taking it down TODAY!" Aria produced a ball of void energy in the palm of her hand in response, and Ash summoned a flaming hammer from the air, which engulfed her entire body in flames.

"Well… that's pretty cool," Eager said with an admiring voice, and responded by conjuring up a flaming palm of his own. Dawn's fists began to charge with Arc energy, and Scorch let herself get into it a bit, feeling a powerful aura surround her body, and her hand holding the Last Word ignited in purple fire.

Like a well oiled machine, they charged perfectly in line with one another into the fray. Atheon bellowed in anger, but he didn't have much of a say in it. The other Guardians kept him busy with tactics like a Fist of Havoc or Nova bomb to the chest, lighting him on fire, and in Scorch and Matt's case, firing projectile after projectile of light beams into him. Perhaps at one point the Vex would have appeared to be formidable, but with all six of them fighting him at once, each felt invincible, knowing that if any of them were to fall into trouble, there'd be five other Guardians backing them up immediately.

Atheon's body was smoking now from every joint and servo on his body. "Not much longer now," called Scorch, "just a bit more!" Matt yelled to her from across the arena, "Alright then, let's go for one more effort! Guardians make their own fate!"

Meeting in the center, the duo combined their final beams of light to form one massive blob of energy that blew right through Atheon's chest, and obliterated his insides. As the conflux within him began to die, Atheon wasn't the only one that Scorch heard screaming out in pain. Kaine the Consumed's voice cried to the heavens, though it received no answer as his very soul was banished to whatever hell that death would take him to. After several seconds, his cries of anguish ceased, and there was nothing left but the smoking corpse of Atheon.

All six Guardians stared at it, panting heavily. Eager was the first to speak, his question directed at Scorch; "So, is that it?"

Scorch laughed. "Yes, that's it. We did it!" Everyone cheered, and both the Seekers and the Heroes gathered together in one large group of excitement. Scorch and Dawn hugged again as Aria and Eager high-fived one another. Matt and Ash pulled each other into a tight embrace, and looked at one another, caught up in the moment. After a second or two, they pulled away again sheepishly.

"Uh, guys?" Aria looked over at Matt and Ash who hesitated for a moment before giving the Warlock their attention. "How are we supposed to get home? I highly doubt that the Javelin is still sitting around in orbit any more."

Scorch raised her head to look at the Awoken girl. "Don't worry, we've got ships. We're more than willing to take you on as passengers."

Matt nodded his thanks. "Alright then teams, let's go! I don't want to stay in this place any longer than we have to."

-X-

Scorch flew the ship in silence with Matt taking up the spare seat behind her. Each of the Guardians had buddied up with their respective counterpart on the Seeker's team. She couldn't imagine how awkward that had to be for Ash and Dawn, and it gave her a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?" asked Matt curiously. She got herself back under control.

"Oh, nothing, just a stray thought."

"Alright." Matt allowed her a few more seconds of silence before talking again; "So, five years. That's really how long we've been gone?"

"Yep." Scorch tried not to say too much on the subject in case he was touchy about it.

Apparently however, he was a bit nonchalant. "Well, at least it's not as big as the last time I was pulled out of time."

"The last time?" she questioned with curiosity in her tone. She turned around in her seat to see him nod.

He walked over to her and explained, "I was just a normal guy on Earth when the Traveler first came. But one thing leads to another, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up centuries after my death with this little gal yelling that I'm some sort of Guardian." He playfully pointed to his Ghost, the one he called Seraph. Her blue eye pulsed slightly out of affection. He faced Scorch once more.

"As for you, I believe you said that you only joined the Guardians so that you could help find us?" Scorch nodded.

"Once, I wanted to be a Guardian like you three, but after the way the Vanguard ignored my situation… all desire for that died."

He nodded understandingly. "Okay. And now? Will you stay a Guardian?" She hesitated.

"I think… regardless of what may have happened, I know that I can do a lot of good as a Guardian. And so long as I'm making a good impact and helping others, that makes me happy to be called a Guardian."

She looked at him again to see an approving smile on his face. "Good choice."


	25. Uneasy Future

Scorch didn't really know quite what to expect. Definitely excitement, definitely some form of celebration, but… she wasn't nearly prepared enough for what really happened.

As their ships landed in the hangar, the three Vanguards came out to greet them, followed by a large number of Guardians who were curious about what was about to happen. Matt remarked, "This seems a bit familiar, I'll admit." He chuckled lightly, and looked over at Scorch. "You're not really the 'attention-seeking' kind of girl, are you?"

She shook her head.

"Well, today you are. Come on, let's show them who the savior of the day is!"

The docking ramp descended slowly in unison with the other two ships nearby. The audience below watched with bated breath as Scorch walked down the ramp first, helmet off so that the Guardians could see her smiling.

Ikora gasped at Scorch's apparent happy mood. "You don't think- could she have possibly-?" In answer to her question, Scorch stepped out of the way to reveal another Hunter stepping down the ramp, a familiar Hunter at that.

The crowd sounded like one large sentient creature as cheers and ecstatic screaming erupted from it. The Vanguards rushed forward, urgent to see if what their eyes were telling them was true. On the other docking ramps, the remaining Seekers and Heroes revealed themselves as well, and walked over to Scorch and Matt.

The three Vanguards stood in front of all six of them, awestruck. "You… you actually found them…" whispered Ikora with tears in her eyes.

"Of course they found 'em, what'd I tell ya?" said Cayde. Obviously he held no tears, but something about his voice wavered a bit.

Matt extended his hand and gripped Cayde's hand in a firm grasp. "It's great to see you too, Cayde. Believe me, it's been a lot longer for you all than it's been for us."

The Exo Hunter laughed, and in a rare moment of genuine emotion from him, brought Matt into a bear hug after having finally been reunited with his favorite apprentice.

After a moment, he pushed Matt away again. "Alright, we can't be that close all the time. Don't get too touchy-feely on me."

Ikora was a little more reserved, and simply held Aria in her sight. "You… I never thought that we'd see any of you again, it's been so long…"

Aria chuckled. "Well… here we are!" Ikora laughed. "Yes, I suppose you are, and how great it is!"

Zavala and Ash were chortling about moments on the Heroes' mission. "...and Aria looks over and says, 'Maybe you shouldn't be so close to them!' I'm like, 'I'm a Titan, my job is to punch things! What do you want from me?' " Zavala guffawed rather than keep his usual face of protocol, and slapped her heartily on the back.

As the Heroes talked to their mentors, the crowd surged forward and tried to each get a good look at them, each clambering to see if they were truly real. But one person stood out from the rest, and approached them.

"Well done, child of light." The Speaker's quiet tone was subtle, but filled with joy. That was all the appreciation that the Seekers needed. "I see that you succeeded in your quest."

"That we sure did," replied Dawn. She looked over at Ash a ways away. "You know, I think I'm gonna hang out with her for a bit, learn a little more about my original. Excuse me." She jogged over to where the other Titan stood, surrounded on all sides by enthusiastic Guardians.

"Yeah, and um, I've got some task force stuff to catch up on. Y'know, the whole 'being gone because I was looking for the lost Heroes' thing." He too walked away, leaving Scorch and the Speaker alone together.

"How would you say that your mission went?" asked the Speaker with a tone of curiosity in his voice. Scorch sighed.

"Speaker… I met Kaine, the Consumed. I managed to defeat him against all odds, and yet… he showed me something. The Balance, something you revered so highly… it hasn't happened yet, but he showed me something that makes me hope that it doesn't happen for a long time. It's not what we thought it was, and I just don't understand it yet."

The Speaker gave a small hum of contentment. "Scorch, if we understood half of what the Traveler can do… well, we wouldn't need a Traveler. But as it is, we are forced to deal with these events as they come, and to process them later. What you saw may have very well been exactly what you thought it was, whatever that may be. Or… there may be something you just don't know yet." And with that, the Speaker turned around and left to join in the celebration, leaving Scorch to contemplate on what he meant.

Maybe he was right. Maybe there was just something she didn't get yet. She walked over to the edge of the hangar, and sat on the edge, allowing her legs to dangle over the side.

In any matter, she knew that she was ready. Or, at least she would be. With her team at her side, and the Heroes here to help guide her, she knew that reaching her final destiny would be that much easier. Though what exactly lay at the end of the road, she wasn't sure of. But she was certain that it was going to be a hell of a time getting there.


	26. A New Threat

The moon was silent, and all was calm in the landscape, save for one small bit of movement near the Hellmmouth, the Hive's hellish pit that extended far down into the core of the stellar body. At the very edge of it, a grunt could be heard, one of great exertion and pain.

As the sun shone down upon the lunar surface, a hand shot out from over the edge, and grabbed the top of the cliff. Heaving their body up and over the boundary of the sinkhole, they climbed onto the lit area of the moon's atmosphere, and immediately crumbled to the ground in pain from the shock of seeing such bright light after so long in nothing but the squalid and filthy darkness.

As she writhed on the ground, a rumbling could be heard down below, the growl of a predator that had just lost its prey. Shakily, the individual picked themselves up and continued to run away from the pit, wherever her legs would take her.

She didn't yet know it, But Eris Morn had a large part to play in the events to come, one that would shape how the future unfolded; whether it would live on in freedom, or fall to slavery in the shadow of a monster.

The return of Crota was at hand.

END OF "HUNTERS OF LIGHT"

TO BE CONTINUED IN "GUARDIANS NEVER DIE" PART 3:

"THE DARK BEFORE DAWN"

* * *

A/N: There we go! The second book has now been completely added to the first. I wish I knew if you guys were enjoying this, but there's somewhat of a review drought affecting the story at the moment. Let me know your thoughts, how my writing is, and how you react to events with them. Don't forget to favorite! Starting tomorrow, "The Dark Before Dawn" will be added and updated here as well as on its original page. Stick around!


	27. THE DARK BEFORE DAWN (Book 3)

**THE DARK BEFORE DAWN**

A mysterious Guardian has arrived, claiming to be the sole survivor of a fireteam that ventured further into the moon than any dared before. With her help, the Heroes and Seekers learn of an ancient evil that now stirs in its depths; Crota. All six must band together to prevent his soul from ever escaping into our world again, or all will be lost.

* * *

The flames from the wreckage stood out against the night background, a beacon to anything or anyone curious enough to venture too close. Oddly enough, they were a bright orange, but mixed in with green tinges of flame that apparently was of some different chemical makeup than standard.

The two Hunters that now approached it took caution. The ship itself looked to be a fellow Guardian's, but miscellaneous items scattered the surrounding area of the impact such as skulls, several bones, and lots of ash. A mysterious green orb with a shard of crystalline rock stood stationary upon the ground. The first scout looked over to the second and shrugged.

"What the hell do you make of this?" Before the second could answer, they both heard an audible groan from within more of the wreckage. They leapt into action, and began pulling away rubble and debris to reach the individual trapped inside. With one last pull of a particularly large and jagged chunk of metal, a woman tumbled out of a makeshift hole in the side of the cockpit.

"Are you alright? You seem to have-" The second scout's question died in his throat as the survivor looked up at him and the extent of her face was exposed. She was pale white like bone, but not even the ghastly coloration of her skin could compare to the freakish appearance of her face; instead of the usual limit of two eyes that normal human possessed, a third eye was positioned in the central region between the other two, and slightly above them. All three glowed with a bright greenish aura. If the scout hadn't known better, he would have claimed that she was part Hive.

Her hands shot up from the ground to grasp his shoulders, and she shook him heavily. "I have seen our destruction firsthand! His green fire will spread throughout our strongholds, purging us from our homes and smoking us out to be skewered on the blade of his sword!"

The scout tried to brush her hands off of him hurriedly. "Hold on a minute lady, what are you talking about? Who's coming after you?"

" _Not I, but us!"_ she said emphatically. "Humankind as a whole, we are all equally hated by him, and his wrath will not cease until he has scoured all of us from reality!"

"Who?" asked the first scout, repeating his partner's question. Her head snapped toward the sound of his voice, and he could see clearly the nature of her face, as well as the black liquid substance that flowed from each eye.

" _Crota."_

* * *

 _A/N: Alright guys, and we've arrived at the third book! Now, it should be updated accordingly with my writing speed and when I finish each chapter. Remember to review and favorite, every one means a lot in my eyes!_

 _-Matteoarts_


	28. Skirmish in the Snow

A light snow fell upon the ground, blanketing the landscape in fluffy white powder. The outskirts of the city near the wall were usually barren and empty of any kind of life save for the Ghosts that would harvest spinmetal from the outer rim, but when the winter came, a different kind of beauty came upon it, the kind that can only be achieved through simple observation and silence.

Of course, the spectators on either side of the marked track in the snow were not very adequate at either of these at the moment.

A wide stretch of road had been constructed in a makeshift fashion, shoveling snow from the center of the track and moving it to either side to form small walls of the powder. On either side of the track were people, citizens of the city and Guardians alike. They all stood in the snow, shuffling their feet every so often to keep circulation flowing to their toes in the cold. They all looked down one direction of the track, eagerly awaiting the arrival of something.

Aria did as so many others were doing, and stomped her feet into the ground slightly to bring feeling back into them. "I hope she comes around soon, it's freezing!" Despite having dressed for the occasion with a rather thick coat, and snow boots, she still shivered in the cold climate.

Matt gave an involuntary shake every now and then, but was fine for the most part. He'd lived in London for the most recent years of his past life, and had prepared himself for a long trek across Russia before he'd been mugged. Of course he'd had to accumulate to cold weather, and he was pretty much used to it, hence why he was just dressed in a simple jacket and jeans, though he had selected some warm shoes for the event.

"It's not that cold, you can manage." The slightly sarcastic response came from Dawn, who stood next to Eager a few feet away. She and the Warlock both wore their black undersuits, signature of all Guardians, with jackets as an external layer and simple shoes. Aria pointed emphatically at their attire as a point for her claim.

"For you guys maybe! All you have to do as Exos is turn off your neuro-sensors, and instantly no more cold!" Dawn and Eager chuckled slightly at Aria's accusation, mostly because the Awoken girl was right. The other part was due to the fact that despite being one of the Heroes, Aria was still the youngest of the two teams besides Scorch, and often acted as such.

Ash meanwhile, stood on Matt's left, nesting herself in the crook of his arm. It seemed just a little awkward to the others, but the two of them _were_ inseparable; so they let it slide. "D-don't worry Aria, you're n-not the only cold one." Unlike her fellow Exos, she wore her regular jacket with the hood pulled up and over her head, and some warm pants.

"Why don't you turn off your sensors too, Ash? Looks like you could use it," commented Eager with a smirk on his face. Ash shook her head.

"Well, that may be true. But I've got my own personal heater over here," she said with a slight smile, gesturing to Matt standing next to her. "It's quite comfy." Matt returned her smile with a grin of his own.

"Madam, you're not suggesting that you're only using me for my body heat, are you?" He made a mock swoon. "Oh, I am wounded!"

"Less sarcasm, more huddling," she grumbled. There were definite advantages to having Matt as a best friend; but the jokes certainly weren't one of them.

Suddenly, a faint rumbling could be heard from down the track. Everyone craned their necks towards the sound, and looked down the path of paved snow. At first there was nothing, and then several black specks appeared at the edge of a hill.

"Here they come!" called Matt. All five Guardians focused their attention on the speck in the middle as it grew bigger in their field of vision, eventually forming a true appearance…

Within seconds, the sparrow-racers flew by them in a flurry of snow and wind. The spectators all cheered, their hands pumping into the air to signify their excitement. Aria cupped her hands around her mouth, and yelled, "Go Scorch!"

Scorch piloted the sparrow with lethal accuracy. She'd seen her friends on the side of the track as she'd flown by, and smiled that they were here to cheer her on. Pulling the handles of her sparrow to the right, she began to lean so that she could round the upcoming turn without losing ground to the other competitors.

After their success in finding the Heroes nearly eight months ago, the Vanguards had worked to compensate all of the citizens that they'd accidentally neglected in the aftermath of the battle for the Traveler. In addition to that, some high-end city task force officials had seen how fun sparrow-racing was, and had turned it into a legal sport complete with its own league. There were many more regulations now that it wasn't a gambler's way to earn money, but that didn't make it any less fun. Scorch had immediately signed up, just so she had something else to do when she wasn't on official Guardian business.

Spectre's voice spoke in her racing helmet. "I'm sure you already noticed them, but you've got two racers coming up on either side of you."

Scorch smiled. "Thanks for the warning, but like you said; I noticed. They're gonna try to sandwich me." Indeed, each racer had lined themselves on Scorch's right and left. She waited for the strike, when they would jerk towards her and prevent her from gaining speed. After several moments, the signature movement of their sparrows coming in for collision alerted her, and she punched the reverse thrusters. She narrowly avoided them, and the two racers hit each other instead. Looping around and past them as they recovered from the impact, she sped ahead and gained a healthy lead.

She gave a small whoop of excitement and continued ahead, spectators cheering her on the whole way.

-X-

To Cayde-6, it seemed like every damn time that peace and quiet ever came close to reality, something came along to trash that idea.

He'd seen some weird stuff over the years, but this was among the oddest. Two city task force scouts were helping to carry a woman between them, dressed all in black garb. Her skin was pale, like she'd been sitting somewhere dark for far too long. She was definitely in need of a tan.

Moving to the end of the Vanguard's table, the two set her down on the ground. "Vanguards, my partner and I found her this morning while investigating a disturbance in the outskirts of the city." The one near her head had begun to talk first, and looked to them for any kind of information they could provide.

"What kind of disturbance?" asked Zavala, as he moved from his opposite end of the table to get a closer look.

"Some civilians reported seeing something fall from the sky in the night. We found a ship, modified with odd external cosmetics and spouting green flames that had crashed there. She was still inside, but we managed to pull her out. She kept muttering incoherently the whole way here." Indeed, the woman stirred and with it came a string of words. "Must… warn them… the others… all dead…"

Cayde bent down for a closer look. "What the hell is wrong with her head? Is that a third eye?" The second scout shrugged. "Yeah, we don't have a clue what that's about either. I'm sure that the Warlocks will have a field day trying to figure that one out."

The Hunter had a puzzled expression on his face before he raised one hand up and covered the woman's third eye with it. "I knew there was something familiar about her! I was just getting a bit weirded out by… well, frankly the creepy-ass eye in the middle of her forehead."

Ikora looked at him. "You know her?" Cayde nodded. "Her name is Eris Morn. She and I were both Hunter trainees together, mentored by the previous Hunter Vanguard. We, uh…" His hand reached around and held the back of his neck in an awkward expression. "We didn't always see eye to eye. Or in her case now, eye to eye to eye."

One of the scouts raised his hand. "I think you missed an eye. I mean, she has three eyes right? So you would have four total, all of her three plus yours." Cayde tilted his head. "But then wouldn't it be five eyes? Because I have two… come to think of it, why do we say 'eye to eye' instead of 'eyes to eyes'? Nobody has just one eye- well, except for this girl I once met in a bar, she was quite the-"

Zavala waved their banter aside. "That doesn't matter right now. We need to understand her condition, where she's come back from, what happened to her-" With a start, Eris Morn began to cough heavily, and the first scout knelt down to help her sit up properly. She continued to make choking noises until she'd cleared out whatever she'd had in her system, and looked to the audience around her.

"Good to see you're back in the land of the living," declared Cayde, joking as usual. It just seemed to be the way he dealt with situations as they came. Eris narrowed her eyes at him. "I know you. You're… Cayde-6. The tiresome Exo that trained alongside me."

Cayde snorted derisively. "More like, 'the tiresome Exo that kicked ass and became the Hunter Vanguard'. Though I will admit, I wasn't really looking for the job when I got it…" He made a smirk. "So, mourning Morn, what could you have been up to all this time? You look like you've gone to hell and back-"

She was up in an instant, her hand outstretched and falling upon Cayde's collar. She hadn't quite grabbed his throat, but everyone was sure that if she'd wanted to, she wouldn't have had any major problems attaining that. "You know nothing of hell, Cayde. Do not make a mockery of it." With that, she released him.

He stepped away from her, obviously a more wary now that she was alert and awake. She spun on one foot, locking gazes with each person that surrounded her before beginning to intone a somber warning.

"I have returned to tell you all that this city is in danger." Cayde shrugged. "Get in line, I don't think we _haven't_ been in danger for a long time. Battle for the Traveler, the Vault of Glass threat, I mean we're veterans of being damsels in distress by now."

Eris gave him a withering glare. "Not like this. For now, one comes who seeks not to corrupt you, not to simply kill you…" She spoke dramatically, and indeed achieved whatever effect she was aiming for. "He comes to destroy you, utterly and brutally annihilate us. To slaughter all of humanity like the pigs he believes us to be, ripe for being stuck on the spit!" Her voice had been rising in volume until now she was nearly shouting with emphasis.

"Who is this person? Has the Messenger returned?" asked Ikora quickly. Eris laughed mirthlessly. "That pitiful excuse's aura of darkness is nothing but a slight drop of water compared to _him_ , and the massive oceans of darkness which he commands."

Cayde sighed exasperatedly. "Alright, we get it. Now can you tell us who it is that you're warning us about?" Her lip curled a bit like a snarl at him, but she complied and spoke the name.

" _Crota!"_

Instantly, all present were silent. It felt like the room itself had dropped ten degrees, and each Vanguard tried to process what she'd just said.

"You mean…" started Zavala, "the Hive prince? Crota himself is coming?"

Eris nodded. "And sooner than you think. His forces are already here, searching for something to tether his soul back into our reality. We must act quickly if we are to stop him. For all I know, an attack may already be underway."

Normally, there would be all sorts of background checks as to whether her claims held true, but Crota was not a threat to be taken lightly. Ikora immediately nodded at Zavala who knew what to do. Raising his wrist interface up to his mouth, he began to bark orders over the comms.

"Task force, this is Zavala. We need all Guardians to report back to the tower ASAP. I don't care where they are, just get them here."

-X-

Matt heard the roar of the vehicle's engines before he saw them. Craning his neck up, he was quick enough to see two mobile aircrafts soar overhead, and begin to hover over the finish line. "What's going on Eager? Is this some kind of drill?" he asked, since the Exo was still a part of the city task force.

Eager shook his head. "I… I don't know, I haven't heard anything like that. I think this is real."

A moment later, speakers on the vehicles crackled to life, and someone began to talk through them; "Attention, this is the city task force. This event has been cancelled due to a potential threat. All citizens have been instructed to return to their homes, and all Guardians are to report to the tower immediately. This is not a test." The message continued to repeat itself as some of the audience began to boo, albeit while starting to leave.

"This can't be good." Matt felt his stomach turning, the result of adrenaline beginning to course through his system. Seraph materialized in front of him. "Scorch and the other racers don't know about this. Should we do something about it?"

Matt thought for a few moments before nodding. They didn't know how serious this was yet, but it obviously wasn't a joke. "Relay my transmission to all of the racers on the track."

Scorch had a few hundred yards to go to the finish line when she saw the task force aircrafts appear overhead. In an instant, her wrist interface lit up. She didn't want to risk losing the race, but this could be important.

"Spectre, broadcast that signal through my helmet." The Ghost was silent, but a moment later she heard Matt's voice speaking; _"…a joke. I repeat, this is not a joke. Something bad is going on, and you all need to start heading in so that we can get out of here."_

Scorch sighed inwardly, but accepted that Matt wouldn't be telling all the racers this if it wasn't real. "Alright, looks like we're gonna have to cut this match short-" She was just about to finish her sentence when a greenish light appeared approximately forty feet in front of her. From that light, greenish-yellow pricks of lightning began to spark in the area, until something completely unexpected happened.

Out of the sparks, Hive soldiers began to take shape. There were Knights, Acolytes and a wave of Thralls to be seen. There was even an Ogre stomping around, its massive footsteps thundering upon the ground. And in the center of it all was a single Wizard. This Wizard was different, however. Instead of a normal appearance, this one had long horns growing from the top of its head, and it had bright blue eyes that shone on whoever its gaze locked onto. And right now, that gaze was locked onto her.

It screamed a ghastly sound, and the Ogre turned to face her, roaring as it did so. Scorch was ill-prepared for it, but the Ogre swung one fist as she sped by and managed to flip her sparrow. She was thrown free, and felt the weightless sensation of being high in the air. Her racing helmet had been knocked off during the impact, and she could see everything with her normal field of view, the entire scene or Hive clamoring to look at her in the air. Then she began to fall, and landed with a loud thud on the powdery snow.

Her eyes stung from the cold, the ice making painful biting sensations on her face. But she looked around anyway, attempting to remain alert in the face of danger. She pushed herself onto one knee, and instinctively reached around for the Last Word but remembered that she'd left it in her weapons locker. Cursing, she watched as the Acolytes made their way over to her while she knelt on the ground.

A throwing knife came out of nowhere and landed directly between the eyes of the nearest Hive. The Acolyte's eyes lost their green glow that signified life, and it began to fall to the ground. Sprinting up to it, Matt reached forward as it fell, and pulled the knife from its head.

"Run!" he yelled, and he began to backtrack away from the band of Hive.

She stood defiantly, saying, "We're Guardians! We don't run!" The rest of the Heroes and Seekers had come as well, but stood back aways, throwing rocks that they could find on the ground.

He gave her a gesture at his body. "Does it look like any of us prepared for a fight? I'm wearing a hoodie and jeans! If you want to get torn apart like a tin-can, that's your call, but we're gonna get slaughtered unless we have our gear!" He began to backtrack again, only pausing to throw another knife, this one at a Knight that had been getting too close to Scorch.

Much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. Standing up, she began to sprint away from the Hive and towards their comrades, Matt at her side. The Wizard gave another scream, but before any of her minions could react, the sound of bullets peppering the snow became prominent, and it looked around to see the task force aircrafts firing machine gun rounds at them. With a hiss, it reluctantly drew its arms over its head, and began to teleport away. The rest of the Hive were cut down, but the Wizard had escaped.

The total time of the attack had been just under a minute. It left them all with more questions that answers.

Eager jabbed at the Hive bodies before them and loudly asked, "Anyone want to tell me what the hell that was?"

Dawn crossed her arms. "I'm not sure, but all Guardians were to report to the tower. I'm sure that we're all about to find out just what's going on, and why it's relevant to us."


	29. Under Pressure

Coming back from the hangar, Matt noticed that the courtyard was chalk-full of Guardians. He'd never seen so many of them crammed into one place before, bustling around and nervously chatting amongst themselves, all of them equally curious as to what was going on.

Ash and Aria followed closely behind him, as did the Seekers. They all wore the clothing they'd worn at the race, which meant Scorch was walking around while still dressed in her racing garb. She looked quite out of place, compared to how everyone else looked; some Guardians were in attire similar to their own, but others were dressed in full combat gear, leading Matt to question exactly where had many Guardians been called from? Even from missions out on Venus, or Mars? This had to be pretty serious if that were the case.

From the left came the Speaker, walking up the stairs to the small balcony that stood behind Xander, the bounty-master. Silence began to fall around the courtyard as the Speaker began to explain the gathering.

"Guardians, today we have learned of a grave threat to us all. I am almost hesitant to speak it aloud, for fear that it is true; but alas, this threat is all too real." He gave a small sigh, and then dropped his bombshell; "Crota is returning."

A collective gasp came from most of the Guardians in the Courtyard. Matt simply felt confused. He had no idea who this 'Crota' was, but evidently they weren't something to be trifled with. He looked at his companions to see Aria's mouth gaping in recognition, as well as Scorch and Eager who looked dumbfounded. Ash and Dawn, on the other hand, appeared to share his ignorance. He said nothing, sure that they would learn soon enough who Crota was.

One Guardian called out, "How do you know?" The Speaker looked to the right of the balcony where another Guardian was ascending the staircase on the opposite side. She seemed quite different from other Guardians, however. Her attire was completely made up of a depressingly black cloth with a kind of vest over her torso. Her skin appeared to be completely devoid of pigment and color, giving her the appearance of a gaunt corpse.

"I am Eris Morn. I journeyed into the realm of Crota years ago with a team of strong Guardians, unmatched by any others." In spite of her appearance, she spoke with a strong and clear voice; she could be heard all around the courtyard as though she were right next to you. "We were brave, but foolish. One by one, we were struck down until only I was left. For years, I huddled in the squalor, drawing strength from… unmentionable sources in order to survive." Almost instinctually, she reached her hand up to her forehead, where a bandana covered her eyes.

"I learned of his plan to return to our realm, and I made haste to help end it. I crawled out of the depths with nothing but revenge on my mind, and you all are going to help me." She glared at the rest of the Guardians with a look of fury so strong, Matt felt like holes were being bored into his skull.

Cayde, who was standing near Xander below the Speaker and Eris, coughed loudly. "Well Eris, that uh, that was certainly quite the… dramatic speech." He looked around at the crowd of Guardians before him. "But she is right. If Crota is returning, it could mean all-out war against the Hive. He commands many of their forces, being a Prince-God of theirs. And the last time he was here in our realm… well, there were a lot of good people that ended up not-alive." He paused to let that sink in, and then resumed his briefing.

"As was shown earlier this evening, his forces are already starting to move in. His apprentice, Omnigul, reared her ugly head here on Earth just a few hours ago. Whatever she's doing out in the cosmodrome, it's not good. We need every single Guardian on high alert for this, no games. Whatever you hear, see, or feel out there, I don't care if you just get the goosebumps while walking in the cold, check it out. We need to know her whereabouts, and we need them fast." He gave one last look around the crowd before waving his hand and saying, "Dismissed."

Guardians began to disperse from the square, each hurriedly running off with an apparent aura around them; their motivation was blatantly obvious. Matt was about to follow suit when he heard Cayde speak up; "Matt! Scorch!" They both looked over to where the Hunter Vanguard was beckoning them to come. With looks of confusion, they obeyed, and soon both stood in front of the eccentric Exo.

He stood with his hands on his belt, too lazy to put them in his pockets. "I want both your teams to meet with the Vanguards in about ten minutes. That alright with you?" They nodded, although still unsure of what Cayde was getting at. The Hunter nodded in acceptance, and began to walk away. It surprised Matt that Cayde wasn't sporting his usual quips to each and every word coming out of a person's mouth. Maybe this issue was a bigger one than he'd even escalated it to be in his mind.

-X-

The Heroes and Seekers stood at opposite sides of the table, waiting on the Vanguards to tell them why they'd been called. With a tired sigh, Zavala lifted his head.

"I'm sure that you're all wondering why you're here."

Scorch raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were here because you summoned us?"

The Titan shook his head. "No, not us. _She_ summoned you. Or more accurately, asked for the best Guardians we had on hand." Waving his hand in the direction behind the long table, both teams turned to see Eris slinking from the shadows.

"I remember you," stated Aria, "from when I studied to be a Guardian. You and the rest of your team weren't taken seriously, but you ended up chasing the trail of one of the most legendary enemies we've faced before."

Eris, usually so empty of emotion, felt a small smirk tug at the ends of her mouth. "So, we weren't completely forgotten after all these years."

She reverted back to her melancholy expression, and walked to the far end of the table, splitting even between the two teams of Guardians. "As I said, I'm here for revenge. But even my desire for vengeance doesn't blind me to the dangers presenting themselves to the city; and so you're all going to help me stop them."

Matt nodded immediately. This was his job, to be ready at a moment's notice to defend the Traveler. "Where do we start?"

Cayde held up his hands. "Slow down there, trigger-happy. You haven't even heard what she has to say yet." Eris shot him a look, but did not say anything about his interruption.

She instead continued, "As Cayde has implied, the tasks ahead are dangerous, filled with peril. All of you will be necessary for this to succeed."

This time, everyone waited patiently for her to explain. She held a small green orb with a single shard of… something, swirling inside. She used her hands to rotate it while she spoke in a monotonous tone; "Crota has grown stronger over the years, strong enough to attempt an escape from his realm of isolation; though he still requires several events before he can manifest here."

She paced around the room as she gave exposition, "Firstly, his true form may be banished, but a shard of his soul resides in this reality, encased in a Hive crystal. It is in this crystal that his tie to this realm is anchored; it must be destroyed. Omnigul will attempt to bring him through to our world, but without the crystal… I won't say it'd be impossible, but it would make things much harder for her."

Now, she held up the orb she had in her hands. "Secondly, Omnigul will need this. She will attempt to seek it out here on Earth, for she cannot succeed without it."

Eager raised a metallic eyebrow questioningly. "Well, what the hell is it?"

She shot him another one of her menacing looks at his question. "Never you mind what it is, all you need to know is that Omnigul must not be permitted to get her hands on it! Understood?" Holding his hands up to sign surrender, Eager looked quite taken aback.

Eris gave a curt nod. "Good. Now this leads us to the last topic of interest; mission assignments. One team must pursue Omnigul, and the other must venture to the moon…" Eris shook slightly, her memories of what had occurred there obviously bothering her, "… and destroy the crystal."

Ash gave an involuntary shudder at the mention of the moon. She, Aria, and Matt had taken very few trips there; after the first one with several near-death experiences, she'd felt that she'd experienced all that the moon had to offer, and she wasn't interested. Falling into the Hellmouth still stood near the top of Ash's worst fears, and she wasn't eager to make another visit.

"Eris, we'd be more than glad to kill Omnigul for you." Ash breathed a sigh of relief, as the voice belonged to Matt. Looking after his team as always. Or maybe he just felt it was the more dangerous mission, and was trying to spare the Seekers any danger-

"With respect, Matt… I think that we should take that one." The Heroes stared at Scorch incredulously as she voiced her opinion. She shrank a little bit at their reaction, but her eyes held that fierce look of determination that she was known for.

"What makes you say that?" asked Matt, his brow furrowed.

Scorch crossed her arms. "I just think that we're up to the challenge. I know you're volunteering for the mission to keep us out of danger, you've done it several times over the last year." So Scorch had caught on to that. Ash looked to Matt, watching the thoughts behind his eyes as he tried to find the words to say what he wanted to.

"It's not a matter of danger, it's simply a matter of experience here. We've been Guardians a while longer than you, and we've dealt with troublesome Wizards before, like the Siphon Witches. We know how to handle ourselves is all." Ash nodded at the logical way he'd handled it.

"With respect, it didn't seem like you three knew how to handle yourselves in the Vault of glass."

The room fell dead silent.

Ash's eyes darted from Matt to the Scorch, while her mouth hung slightly open in shock. It seemed like nobody in the room was even breathing, lest they set off a bomb. Eager seemed to be following Ash's example, and seemed nonplussed that Scorch had made such a provocative statement. Dawn, however, seemed to nod slightly in agreement with Scorch. Go figure, she'd practically been loyal to Scorch since her creation.

Matt's eyes narrowed after his initial surprise, and his voice seemed slightly less warm now. "I already acknowledged that we'd been out of our league when you rescued us Scorch. But I hardly see how that's relevant right now. The issue at hand is that your team is just a bit inexperienced to go chasing down powerful minions of the Darkness by yourself."

Eager piped up slightly, "Well, to be fair, I've been a city task force enforcer for longer than you've been a Guardian, so…" He quieted again from the look Matt gave him.

"I understand that you're somewhat experienced Eager, but with domestic issues for the most part; problems in the city. When it comes to being a Guardian team, you've all had about eight months tops to get acquainted, while Ash, Aria and I have had years." Aria nodded firmly, which was surprisingly rebellious of her compared to her usual mild-mannered behavior. Apparently, she was more defensive of him and Ash than she let on.

The Vanguards watched all this with wide-eyes, never suspecting that something like this would happen. Scorch tried again to fight her case.

"With respect-" she began, but she was quickly interrupted by Matt.

"You know, you keep saying 'with respect', but I'm yet to actually hear it in your voice." Her lips pursed, and her jaw clenched in response to Matt's boldness. Both Matt and Scorch leered at each other from alternate sides of the table, daring the other to make a remark.

"Enough." Eris's voice cut through their adrenaline-charged stupors, and forced them to listen. "I can see that you two cannot decide this amongst yourselves."

"You." She pointed at Matt and the Heroes. "You three will find the crystal, and shatter it. Bring me a shard so that I can see for my own eyes that Crota's anchor is broken." She pointed her hand the other way, at the Seekers. "You three will search for Omnigul, and put an end to her meddling."

Matt raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Ash looked at him, expecting him to object, but he simply stood there. She wondered why.

Scorch smiled slightly. "Thank you ma'am, we won't let you down."

Eris shook her head. "I don't give you this mission out of a sense of justice; it simply needs to be done. If you feel you are up to the task, you are more than welcome to try; but do not underestimate her craftiness, and do not dare to think of this all as a game of courage. Am I understood?" She glared at Scorch until the young Hunter mumbled an agreement under her duress. Then she nodded.

"In that case, I suggest you all retire to your rooms. Tomorrow, we begin our hunts."

-X-

Matt lay in bed, mulling over what had just happened. He'd never known Scorch to get so aggressive like that- well, except for when she was racing. All bets were off then. But during a briefing, while the Vanguards were there? Not to mention she'd pulled that fit in front of everyone else too, challenging his authority.

That thought struck him; what authority? Did he really wield any? He'd been appointed as leader of the Heroes, not by an actual feat, but because Ash and Aria had made him the de-facto commander of their first mission together. Maybe he _was_ getting a little overbearing when he had no right to be. After all, Scorch was right; she and the Seekers had rescued them from the Vault of Glass. But even so, she was showing a lack of respect for him, and he needed to think about how to handle that one. He sighed outwardly.

A knock sounded on his door. He raised his head up to see it opening slowly, Ash on the other side.

"Mind if I come in?" she asked. He shook his head, and patted the bed next to him. She often had nightmares, they both did; having company did wonders to help someone through the night.

Complying with his gesture, she sat on the bed next to him. He sat up attentively, and tilted his head. "What was it tonight?"

"The Hellmouth," she whispered quietly. He should have expected that, especially after all that talk about the moon and their new mission. "I was dreaming of hanging over it again, but this time, you and Aria weren't there… you weren't there to help me when I fell."

Her body shook slightly. "I just fell, and God… I heard their screams, and- and I just felt like the worst things imaginable were going on down there."

Matt nodded. The best course of action was to just listen and sympathize, and he could do both of those well; he'd had similar dreams concerning the Black Garden, the Vault, and many others. The Hellmouth had been especially bad for Ash, and he completely understood how it had affected her.

"Do you mind if I sleep here?" she asked. He shook his head, showing her he was fine with it. They'd had to share a foxhole on more than one occasion, and this wasn't the first time she'd come here because of nightmares. He knew how others might see it as; but it didn't bug him.

In all the years they'd known one another, neither had tried to start a relationship based on those early feelings they'd felt in the first few months following them becoming a fireteam. Instead, they'd simply become best friends; inseparable, and as close as two people could be while still being platonic. So them sharing a bed didn't feel as awkward to him as it might have felt with someone else.

Turning his head to the ceiling, Matt continued to ponder the events of the night as Ash attempted to sleep. He had no idea how to manage it; give him a Fallen Captain anyway, or a Vex Minotaur- but trying to solve an argument with a rebellious teen wasn't in his cards.

Check that- she wasn't a teen. Since they'd been stuck for nearly five years in real-time in the Vault, she was only three or so years younger than he was; he needed to stop treating her as though she was so much younger, but he couldn't help thinking of her as that same girl that he and Aria had rescued from the rubble of the Urban district.

Ash turned her head back to the point where Matt could see the glow from her electric blue eyes, now open. "What's wrong?" Matt kept his head still, staring at the ceiling. How did she always know how to read him so well? He supposed that just came as a byproduct of their closeness.

She waited patiently next to him for him to speak.

"I just don't know how to react to the whole thing." He turned slightly to look at her where she returned his gaze. "About Scorch. I don't know why she lashed out so much today, and honestly- it felt a bit rude. What do you think?"

Ash was silent for a moment, thinking it over. When she finally spoke, she did it with an air of caution; "I'm not sure what to think. I mean, sure, she's never done anything like that before- but can you blame her now?"

Matt jerked his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

Ash took a deep breath. "Well, she does have a point- you do tend to take the more dangerous missions before she has a chance to prove herself. It's happened several times since we got back from the Vault, and I'm a bit surprised she hasn't brought it up sooner. That being said, she was indeed being very… mouthy about it. It could have been handled better."

He spun that line of thinking around in his head, mulling it over. Maybe she was right, maybe he just needed to stop trying to protect everyone. It was just difficult, with…

He shook his head, clearing those thoughts away, and smirked at Ash. "Who would have thought that the tough ol' Titan would be the voice of reason here?"

She reciprocated his sarcastic smile, and closed her eyes again. "I guess your own temperament is rubbing off on me more than I thought. I'll have to work on my gruffness some more."

They both laid in the silence for a few moments before Ash's eyes opened wide once more.

"Did you just call me old?"

-X-

Scorch leaned against the railing of the tower courtyard, her arms crossed in front of her to proved support for her torso. She looked out at the Traveler, floating high above the city lights in the distance. She remembered all the days of looking up at it, and staring at it through a window before falling asleep.

Spectre hovered up next to her. "You alright?" She gave a large exhale, refraining from looking at him.

"I know I shouldn't have said those things. It wasn't right, I just… I just wanted to get it off my chest, and finally have a chance to do something. Ever since we rescued them from he Vault, it's been one menial task after another. 'Clear out this Fallen coven', and 'take care of that rouge Knight on the city borders'."

She now turned her head to stare at him, her arms moving emphatically in the air to emphasize her point. "I mean, I'm a child of light, right? The one meant to bring about the Balance, if we ever find out what that is. I just want to be treated as such. I just want a bit more respect for us, the Seekers I mean."

Spectre bobbed in the air. "I know what you mean. But all the same… funny, I remember how biased I used to be. I still am to a degree, but… I can see their side of the coin. Maybe you just need to be a bit more patient, hmm?" He faced her again, and she turned away; not out of reluctance, but out of embarrassment, because she knew he was right to a point.

"Scorch?" The Hunter spun around at the sound of a familiar feminine voice, one that sounded synthesized like Spectre's.

"Hey, Seraph. What are you doing out so late?"

The little Ghost floated a few feet away, obviously feeling a bit awkward for intruding. "I was looking for you, actually. Could we talk?"

Scorch had a good idea that she was in for a lecture, but she nodded anyway. "Alright. What's on your mind?"

Seraph flew a little closer, trying to break the ice. "Well, I just noticed that today, you were a bit, um…"

"Harsh?" she provided, rolling her eyes that she was having to provide the speech for the Ghost's own chiding. Seraph however, just shook herself in a 'no' motion.

"That's not… look, that doesn't matter. I'm not here to find the reason behind your actions… I just wanted to explain the logic behind Matt's." Now this was new, and Scorch raised an eyebrow at the unexpected development.

Seraph began to emit a blue light, and a small box materialized. It was simple enough, just a small metal box for storage. Scorch caught it as it appeared, and held it in her hands. "What is this?"

The Ghost looked at her expectantly. "Open it." Obediently, she did as Seraph asked. Inside was nothing but pictures, scattered around the bottom of it. They were in reasonably good condition, but something about them seemed… old. The backgrounds didn't match any kind of thing she'd seen in her years here in the city, and she couldn't recognize where they'd been taken. They were of many things, places, a sunset, random people, but several particular individuals seemed to stand out, there seemed to have more pictures with them than the others. She saw a boy and a girl, young and mischievous looking. She saw an older girl and guy laughing together, and then saw the same girl hugging-

"Is that… Matt?" she whispered curiously. Gingerly, she picked up the photo and held it between her thumb and forefinger, analyzing it. He certainly looked like Matt, albeit a younger incarnation by several years; he had brown hair and green eyes to match, and his face shone with the familiar enthusiasm that was so often seen in Matt.

Seraph nodded. "Matt gave this box for me to hold onto. He probably thought I'd get rid of it eventually, but I've held onto it for him. Just in case." Scorch marveled at the history these photographs told.

"See, Matt is different from other Guardians. Unlike most of them, he was conscripted, not recruited. Most people had thought that the days of reviving individuals who had died in the past long ago were over; it had been nearly ten years since the last revival of a Golden-Age Guardian, and light tends to deteriorate when left out for years, exposed to the Darkness. But I'd had this feeling, this mindset that I was going to be the next Ghost to do it."

She laughed. "Ever since the day I revived him, Matt has taken care of me as my Guardian, and I have watched over him as his Ghost. But I was wrong- he wasn't a human from the Golden-Age; he was from _before_ the Golden-Age, from the days when the Traveler had first been discovered."

Scorch made a small 'o' shape with her mouth; she'd never known that about him. Seraph continued to explain, "He'd lead a decent life, despite some bumps. He'd had friends, family." Seraph gestured at the young boy and girl. "Those two were his twin siblings. He's never even told me their names, he talks about his past so little." They were looking up at Matt as the photo had been taken, admiring their big brother.

Seraph hovered over the one with the boy and girl who looked to be Matt's age at the time. "That's Lucas and Sara. They were his best friends. Sara, perhaps… was something more." The final photo she showed Scorch was the one of Matt and Sara together, hugging as the picture was taken. Scorch found it odd how familiar Sara looked...

"She died. A genetic disease struck her down in her youth, and caused her to wither away slowly. Matt stuck with her until the end. He told me she died in his arms." The Ghost's voice sounded sad as she spoke these last few lines of exposition.

Scorch's hand shook slightly. "Why did you show me this?" Seraph was silent for a moment.

"I showed you this because I want you to understand; Matt had a _life_. He didn't choose this one, it was simply a second chance for him after he was yanked so suddenly from his past, away from his family and friends, from all that he cared about. He doesn't even know what happened to them; the only person he has closure about is with Sara, and it's because she died next to him." She looked Scorch in the eyes.

"I just want you to understand why you see him as overbearing; it's because he's protective of his friends and family to no end. He almost killed himself in order to keep Aria and Ash out of the Black Garden, he _did_ kill himself during the Battle for the Traveler, and he's saved their lives more than one can count. He never wants to have to go through the pain of losing a friend again, and that includes you." With that, Seraph stored the box and photos once more, and hovered away, obviously finished with her conversation.

Scorch turned back to the railing again. Spectre watched her, but said nothing. Equally, she kept the silence; she simply stared out at the Traveler again, pondering over what Seraph had revealed to her.


	30. Diverging Paths

The Heroes sat in silence as the blue lights of warp-space wrap around them. Ash looked ahead to the viewport, her face blank as she remained in her pilot's chair. Aria's eyes were pointed downward, watching her own hands fidget with one another, constantly locking fingers and unlocking.

Matt was situated next to Ash as usual, in the co-pilot's chair; though he usually didn't have anything to do. It was more or less just a pattern that they had fallen into.

On this particular trip however, he was watching Ash carefully. He knew that she had provided good points for Scorch and her argument to hunting Omnigul; but that didn't mean that she was suddenly okay with going to the Hellmouth. Every time they came to the moon, Ash would always get stonily silent, and became very short with everyone. He knew that she would push through it though, and try to show everyone exactly how tough she was. It wasn't necessary, but that was just a part of her Titan mindset; whatever bothers you, smash it to bits. And if that doesn't work, smash it some more.

He reached his hand over to hers, and held it in his grasp. She didn't look over at him, but did jump slightly at the touch before realizing it was Matt. He rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand affectionately. He could see a small upward tug at the corner of her mouth, the ghost of a smirk. Her hand squeezed his to let him know she acknowledged his act, the only direct sign he was gonna get that she appreciated the gesture.

"Ten seconds to Luna. I'll be the Ghost with you guys for this mission." Whip's synthetic voice jolted Matt back into reality, and he ceased to zone-out. Ash looked at him curiously. "You alright?" He nodded, and gave her a smile. "As good as I'll ever be."

In an instant, the warp-space around them transitioned back to normal space, and ahead of them was the moon, its pearly white surface reflecting the light of the sun. Ash moved her hands to the controls, and began to plot a course downward to land.

-X-

Scorch sat in the tree near the gunsmith in the courtyard, twirling the Last Word around her finger in a bored manner. She was awaiting word on Omnigul's whereabouts. The wizard was sure to come around at some point, looking for Eris Morn's strange orb. It was just a matter of time before some scout spotted her, and the Seekers would jump into action.

"I didn't realize that the fearless hunter of Hive generals spent her spare time hanging around in trees." The sarcastic tone of Eager's voice below broke Scorch out of her day-dream like state, and she smirked.

She leaned over the edge to look at where he stood, nearly directly below her. "What does it matter to you?"

Eager shrugged his shoulders. "I just want to talk. Is that a crime?"

Sighing, she swung her legs over the particular branch she was perched upon, and let herself fall to the ground. "Alright, you've got my attention."

Eager's hand reached around to the nape of his neck, and he held it there in the universal gesture for 'awkward'. "Look, about last night-"

Scorch interrupted him. "I know, I know. I went too far, I understand that. Seraph came and lectured me already."

But Eager was shaking his head. "No, I don't- I mean, you DID go too far, but- I didn't come here to chastise you." Scorch cocked her head to one side, awaiting his explanation.

"See, when we first became a team- I did the same thing. I wasn't sure you could handle it, and I wasn't too thrilled, if you remember, to be placed in the care of a new Guardian, especially one who didn't even seem all that keen to be one." He held his hand up before she could cut him off out of indignation. "But I was wrong. You may have been new, but I should have had more faith in you when we first became a team. Which is why I'm saying now… I support you."

Her mouth opened slightly. "What?"

He shrugged. "I support you. Of course, you do need to cool it a bit with Matt, I can't imagine he was too excited about how you fought with him- but I do support your argument, and I'm here to back you up if it comes up again. People need to start having more faith in you if you're going to reach your full potential."

He smiled, his synthetic green eyes glowing with sincerity. She smiled back, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks Eager. I needed that."

As she released his shoulder, Dawn came jogging up to them. "Hey, we've got some news. Vanguards want to see us." Scorch grinned in anticipation. This was the news she'd been waiting for.

They walked into the Hall of Guardians to see the Vanguards discussing with three Guardians while Eris listened intently. Cayde turned at the sound of their footsteps approaching.

"Ah, there you are. We were just talking with these three about a possible scuffle they had with Omnigul." Scorch snapped her attention to the leader, a Titan.

"Are you sure?"

The Titan reached her hand up, and scratched at a bit of dirt on her visor. "Well, ugly wizard with horns like the devil himself, surrounded by a squad of Hive at all times, and screeches like nails on a chalkboard? Yeah, I'd say we're pretty sure."

Scorch smirked at the sarcasm. "Alright, where did you see her?"

One of the three, a Warlock cradling an injured arm he'd likely sustained from their skirmish, piped up, "Over at the communications tower, near the Warmind's vault."

At this, Scorch raised an eyebrow curiously. "The Warmind? I think I remember Eager and Spectre talking about it back when we were in the Ishtar Archive; but I still don't know what it is."

Zavala cleared his throat. "I forgot that not everyone knows of the Warmind; it's a rare secret we keep amongst the Guardians of the tower." Scorch faced him, her wonder getting the best of her.

"A long time ago during the Golden Age, massive AI constructs were built to defend us. They were called Warminds, programmed with algorithms beyond our comprehension, all for the purpose of our survival. During the collapse, all were destroyed but one; Rasputin."

"Rasputin," repeated Scorch, testing the word out in her mouth. Zavala nodded.

"He has access to all of the old weapons stations on various planets, going so far as Mars. At this point, he's practically our first line of defense if we were to come under attack."

"Why would you keep this from the city?" asked Scorch.

Cayde gave a small _ahem_ uncomfortably. "Well, the Warmind has a tendency to be… hostile towards people he doesn't know, including Guardians. We may all be human, but as far as he's concerned, we're just kids he's looking out for; not the original people who built him, and he's more than willing to fight for his independence."

"Just one troublesome AI?" snorted Dawn.

Ikora gave her a stern look. "One troublesome AI with the firepower of more than 3 planets, and the capability to blow us all up before you could say 'Traveler'".

Dawn shut up.

"All of this talk, and yet no progress has been made." Eris's signature drawl drew everyone's attention to her. "All of you, ask yourselves… why would she be near the Warmind's sanctuary in the first place?

A few seconds passed by before Cayde face-palmed, muttering, " _Ah, crap."_

"What's wrong?" asked Eager.

Cayde pointed out the door emphatically. "Go! If she attacks the Warmind, that takes out our best defense against an attack like the one Crota would try! You can't let her get to him!"

Without another word, the Seekers turned and sprinted out the door. They now had an addition to their objective; keep Omnigul from getting to the Warmind. Cayde was right; the results would be disastrous if the AI was put out of commission.

The Seekers had been gone for nearly a minute before the Warlock spoke again, "Hey, uh, can I head to the infirmary or something?"

-X-

Aria stepped over the body of an Acolyte that lay dead upon the floor. The Heroes stood in the Temple of Crota, making sure that they'd cleared the room of all hostiles.

"You know," commented Matt, "last time we were in this temple, we were trying to get _out_ , not _in_."

Aria called over to him without turning, her eyes looking down the sights of her rifle; "I'm not too keen on the reversal of our direction myself."

Ash walked over to a hole in the floor that led deeper into the Hive's fortress, and let herself drop over the edge. Matt and Aria followed suit a moment later.

Now on point, the Titan held out her hand for Whip to materialize. "Whip, can you mark a path for that crystal?"

The Ghost vibrated slightly, processing the information that he had gathered from the World's Grave years ago. "There is an area which appears to be one of sacred origin; but it's deep into their tunnels. I'm not sure that it'll be safe for any of us-"

Aria waved at Whip to grab his attention. "Not sure that you've noticed in the years you've been Ash's Guardian; but almost nothing we do is safe, I doubt that this is gonna be too far from our normal routine." Though Ash still looked visibly uncomfortable, she had to admit that the Awoken girl had a point. Whip said nothing, obviously choosing to concede as well.

"It's uh… it's this way." He illuminated a shadowy path to their left, and they began to trek deeper into the Hellmouth once more. Instantly, all light disappeared. Nobody said anything, but every one of them knew how unsettling their situation was.

Their path seemed to take hours; constantly on edge in the dark, and attempting to check every corner of the subterranean pathway for monsters caused them to lose their sense of time. Several times, Aria had to fight the urge to ask the Ghost if he knew where he was going; the passage they seemed to be following was filled with a dank, nauseating smell, though all Hive tended to give off that scent. There was no light to go off of, save for the one given by Whip. Thankfully, she kept her silence, because the passage began to brighten up as they reached an end to it.

"Where are we?" Matt asked, all three of them looking around at their new surroundings. Small lanterns were fixed to the rocky walls, filled with green fire. They gave off a ghastly appearance, but fortunately illuminated the rest of their path. Ahead of them was some sort of entrance to a shrine, built with architectural precision. Before them were piles of bones, victims that had fallen prey to the hive. They belonged to several species, but upon noticing a prominent human skull, Aria looked away with a hard swallow.

"This is the entrance to the Chamber of Night. This is the most prominent shrine to Crota in the upper layer of the Hellmouth. It's only logical assume that Eris's so-called 'soul crystal' of Crota would be here." Whip flew forward a bit more, suddenly intrigued. "I can sense… disturbances. In the natural balance of Light and Dark. I mean, the Hellmouth is already pretty Dark, but… this is a whole new level. Whatever Eris was talking about, it's definitely in there."

"Well then," said Ash with a burst of courage that she didn't really feel, "what are we waiting for?" She unslung her rifle, and began to walk forward. Aria held her hand out and stopped her from moving ahead, earning a provoked look from the Exo.

"What are you stopping me for? I can handle this!" she told the Awoken girl indignantly. Aria said nothing, but pointed to Ash's rifle. The Titan looked down at where she was gesturing.

"You left the safety on." Aria began to move ahead as Ash had done while Ash quickly corrected her mistake. Apparently, her mind was more addled from fear than she realized.

Matt waved his hand in front of her to get her attention. "You alright?"

She nodded, not willing to say anything and let her voice betray her true feelings. She had no doubt that Matt wasn't fooled for a moment, but he didn't stop her regardless. With him covering their exit, she followed after Aria.

The entire entryway was filled with platforms, and complex gem-like structures that split the rooms into two passages for no particular reason. Chains hung from the ceiling, with meathooks adorning the ends of each one. Ash kept her eyes away from them, unwilling to let her imagination wander to the images that it began conjuring up- notably of Matt and Aria strewn in grotesque positions upon said meathooks.

A final set of stairs signified the end of the entrance to the shrine; but what lay inside couldn't be more different than what she had expected. The massive room was dim, lit only by a ghostly green glow in the center of the room. Before she inspected that, she noticed that all of the walls were rock, making this more of a cave than a shrine. A single primitive bridge had been constructed to the center of the room, while a small pond of murky water was situated on the left. On the right was what looked to be an area that had fallen victim to a rock-slide.

She gasped in awe when she realized that a massive skeleton of some serpentine fashion stretched from the right of the room, up to the left and into the wall, hiding the rest of the bones. It truly would have had to have been enormous to leave behind such a remnant.

In the center of the room was a collection of large boulders that formed a circle; within that circle were four Wizards, each of which had an emblem underneath them. The emblems were the source of the green light, burning with the signature green-fire of the Hive. They seemed to be circular in shape, and were criss-crossed with Hive runes and writing. Ash supposed that the Wizards were drawing their power from them to infuse it into-

That's when Aria hit her on the shoulder, and pointed to the center of the Wizards. "Look." There stood an enormous crystal, half embedded in the lunar ground. It was hard to detect, but there was a spark of green light that emanated from within the crystal itself, pulsating like a grotesque heartbeat.

"I think that the Wizards are keeping the crystal alive, if you can call it that- at least until Omnigul gets what she wants to help them," remarked Aria. Ash concurred with her observation, and immediately began formulating a plan to destroy it quick and fast.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans. The sound of gunshots behind the two women forced them to turn around. Matt was walking backwards, firing round after round into his attackers. "Guys, we have trouble!" A swarm of Knights had decided to intervene, likely alerted to their presence by the bodies of those in the Temple they'd killed earlier. As Ash looked back towards the crystal, she saw that the Wizards had seen them finally, and began to screech in aggression.

"Well, you wanted the more dangerous mission Matt?" yelled Aria, shooting a particularly close Knight in the head multiple times before its armored plating broke and allowed entry of the bullets into its skull, "It looks like you got it!"

Ash groaned loudly. This was gonna suck.


	31. Omnigul's Ploy

_A/N: Sorry that this chapter has taken so long to write! The main reason is that I've just been busy with school and other life, but don't worry! I ended up splitting the chapter in half because it was too long, and the first half is this chapter! The second half makes up the majority of the next chapter, and so should be finished much sooner than this one! Remember to review and favorite!_

* * *

The Forgotten Shore. Though, if the activity that usually was present at it was any indication, it was anything but.

It was a popular place for Guardians to scout out; whether for an actual routine check, or for a simple session of relaxation. It was peaceful in its own way; the communications building was nearby, and from the top of it or one of the surrounding ships that lay beached upon the shoreline, you could look out at the ocean and watch as the waves crashed against the sand. It was almost therapeutic, seeing something so normal and blissfully untouched by the horrors of the war that had ravaged many a site like this one.

At the moment, however, Scorch was a bit preoccupied. She stood within the communications tower and looked around, trying to find any sign of the Hive squadron reported here, but seeing none. Some of the walls of the building were missing from years of exposure, and the wind howled through the structure, accompanying the sound of slapping waves nearby.

"Where could they have gone?" she heard Dawn mutter to her left. "I mean, it's not like a bunch of Hive could just hide." Scorch didn't want to say anything, but she was having a difficult time seeing where a powerful Wizard like Omnigul could be hidden within a building interior about the size of her old apartment.

She decided to radio it in. Holding her wrist interface up to the mouthpiece of her helmet, she contacted Zavala. "Sir, this is Scorch. The Seekers are here at the relay, but we're not seeing any kind of Hive activity here, not to mention the Warmind."

The voice she heard, however, was not of the Titan Vanguard. _"The sanctum of Rasputin is further below in the tower, hidden by a trapdoor-stairwell."_

As Eager began to rummage around on the floor, Scorch spoke back to the voice; "Eris?"

 _"Yes."_

"Where's Zavala?"

Suddenly, his voice came onto the channel. _"Scorch, Eris Morn has… requested that she be the one to assist you through your mission. I've entrusted her with my command comms."_ Scorch sighed exasperatedly. Not to say that she didn't trust the woman, but c'mon… if there was ever going to be a person who acted and looked more freaky than she did, Scorch did _not_ want to meet that person.

 _"We are wasting time! Listen carefully; can you hear that?"_ Scorch held her arm up to signal both Dawn and Eager to remain silent for a moment. After a few moment's pause, she did hear it amongst the other sounds of the water and wind; a musical piece, muffled and soft as though the source was covered up. It sounded like opera; she'd seen a show that some of the citizens of the city had put on when she was a kid.

"Yeah, I do. What is it?"

Eris responded excitedly, _"That's Rasputin! If I know him, then that music means he's in trouble."_

"Hey!" Scorch and Dawn snapped their heads to Eager where he crouched on the ground. He was lifting up a loose board of flooring that had revealed a staircase under it.

"Alright, we found our ticket in. We'll keep you all updated, just stay in touch." Scorch closed the channel, and walked over to descend the stairwell. It was dusty, and dark. Spectre appeared, and shone a light from his eye to illuminate where she stepped. She could hear Eager helping Dawn enter behind her, and continued on.

It wasn't a long time of walking around before she came to a peculiar entrance; it was a diamond shaped walkway, gray in color and built out of a durable metal unlike anything she'd seen before. The music was loudest here.

"Think this is it?" asked Eager rhetorically. Before she could snap back at him, a hiss of air blasted at them as the diamond split along a vertical seam in the middle. The two halves moved aside, acting as doors, and the music began to blare from within.

 _"I've never known him to welcome visitors."_ The eerie voice of Eris startled Scorch. She hadn't been aware that Eris had reopened the channel. _"He must be in greater trouble than I thought."_

Scorch shook her head as though trying to rid herself of the creepy woman. Biting her tongue, she forged ahead, followed closely by her fireteam members.

The inside was quite the contrast to the state of the building that it was built under was in; here, it was brightly lit and well kept. Stainless steel railings and floors were abundant here, and the entire place had a sterile feel to it; sterile of any kind of human presence. The opera music continued to play at loud volume.

"Be aware guys, we may be in a bit over our heads here," warned Scorch. With that, she took a right and began to walk through the facility.

Eager looked around at all the machinery and area of the place. "What is an all-powerful AI doing with this much spare room, anyway? I mean, he just hangs out down here by himself right?"

Dawn elbowed him. "Maybe he wasn't always alone. I'm sure that humans probably worked with him a lot before the collapse." Eager nodded, accepting this answer. They both acted so naturally that Scorch sometimes forgot that they were Exos, and not human. Or, at least not organic human. But that got back into the whole 'Do Exos have emotions or are they just machines' debate, and she didn't feel like dragging up some of her own biases right now-

"Contact!" yelled Eager, pointing in front of Scorch. She quickly redirected her attention to where his finger was indicating; indeed, a group of Thralls was barreling towards them.

"Clear 'em out!" ordered Scorch, raising her hand cannon to the onslaught of Hive zombies that were clawing their way towards them.

Bullets tore through the air as each Guardian found a target. The sound of gunfire was fitting to compliment the screams of the dying Thralls that fell to it. Unfortunately, they weren't the only Hive here. Greenish orbs began to appear, signifying the teleportation of more enemy forces.

"Go!" she yelled, and the Seekers sprinted forward and away from the orbs. She could hear the grunt of a Knight behind her, and knew she'd made the right call. "Up there!" She pointed at an opening which led into a large circular chamber. Passing the threshold of the doors, Dawn immediately turned and slammed her fist into the emergency lock. The massive barricades slid from the sides of the opening and slammed shut behind them.

All three stood there for a moment, gathering their bearings. It was only upon hearing an awful screech not unlike a dying animal that they all turned toward the source.

The room they were in had a viewing section of the entire chamber, and on the opposite side of the room was an ugly looking Wizard that Scorch wasn't going to forget any time soon.

Omnigul hissed at them, obviously baiting them into an attack. Scorch grinned. If this was a trap, she was about to set it off. Excellent.

"Seekers, let's take this Hive-bitch down!"

-X-

Matt slowly lifted his head up from the water.

Placing his arm in front of him, he used it as a prop to push himself up and look around. He was lying on his stomach in the pool of water to the left of the entrance. To his right was the cracked, and still smoking helmet of a Wizard half submerged in the water. Apparently, Ash and Aria had already taken at least one of the Wakers out.

Hearing a loud grunt, he faced forward and saw the Knight that had thrown him into the pond with a swipe with the back of its hand. It now raised its sword up to deliver the killing blow.

Acting quickly, he rolled out of the sword's descending arc. Not a moment too soon, as the heavy blade of the Knight cut into the water where he'd been just a second ago. He stood up with an alertness that did not reflect how groggy he truly felt. The creature prepared to take another swing, but its eyes were blown apart by Matt as he unloaded the Hawkmoon with startling accuracy into its face. It immediately reached its hand up to where it felt the pain, only for Matt to follow through with a slice of his Hunter's blade. The blow was fatal, and the Knight began to disintegrate, leaving nothing but a shell of chrysalid armor behind.

"Matt!" He turned every which way to find the source of the cry. He eventually found Aria keeping another Knight busy by zapping it with an electrical strike which sent current running throughout its body. It began to convulse until its bony frame could no longer tolerate the pain, and it sank to its knees. "You good?!"

He nodded shakily. "Where's Ash?"

Aria used one hand to conjure a wall of void energy and deter the sword of another Knight, and used the other to gesture absentmindedly towards the crystal. "I don't know! I'm a bit busy at the moment!"

Matt left Aria to her own devices as he turned and let a throwing knife fly from within the folds of his cloak. It traveled through the air gracefully before sticking into the middle of an Acolyte's forehead.

He craned his neck toward the sudden outburst of gunfire that came from somewhere over by the crystal. Peering over, he saw Ash trying to furiously impede a Knight's progress toward her. All too soon, however, her magazine ran out of ammo and she continued to hold down the trigger to the sound of empty clicking that came from having no ammunition.

"Ash!" She looked towards him just as he tossed over the Hawkmoon. She caught it easily enough, held it up to the Knight that was nearly upon her now, and calmly let loose several slugs into its abdomen. It reached a hand toward the entry points, and began to claw at itself in pain. Ash gave no mercy, and delivered a sharp but powerful kick to the now weakened armor. The Knight's torso snapped in half at the breaking point, and both torso and legs fell to the ground where they wriggled in agony for the next few seconds before disintegrating as per usual.

She held it out for him as he jogged over. "Thanks," she panted. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement before turning to Aria and calling over his shoulder.

"Aria, if you can summon any light, a storm trance would be pretty helpful about now.

The Warlock gave no answer as she was still defending herself from another Knight, but he did see frays in the fabric of her robes begin to stand up in accordance with the static electricity that was now beginning to charge along her body. In another moment, her body exploded with blue energy, and she began to let lightning fly from her fingertips. The Knight had already been killed by the initial unleashing of so much energy, and she redirected her efforts towards the last three Wakers near Matt and Ash.

Matt pulled Ash out of the way as Aria glided forward, arcs of lighting traveling down her arms into her fingertips, where they manifested in surges of electricity that could be directed at opponents. A Waker turned to face her, and was immediately destroyed by the raw power of Aria's super. Another attempted to challenge her, and likewise was nearly melted to sludge.

The last Waker saw what had happened to the other two, and decided that it did not want to follow in their footsteps. It made a dash for the exit, but Ash grabbed her empty rifle, and threw it as hard as she could at the Wizard's retreating back.

In a fatal move of pride, the Waker turned back to screech indignantly at the Titan. That was the last thing it did before Aria caught up and sent as many volts of power as she could coursing through the Wizard's body. Overloaded with energy, the Waker simply ceased to exist, its body exploding with a poof of dust and rotting flesh.

The room fell eerily silent, now that it was devoid of the screams and howls of Hive soldiers. Aria turned towards Matt. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be."

He was about to reply to her, something along the lines of not to jinx them, before a deep rumbling began to emit from behind them. All three turned to the greenish-glowing crystal which was now vibrating in its half-buried position. In a completely unexpected turn of events, the thing shot up into the air and began to increase in glow, as though charging up for something.

"Move!" he ordered, forcing Ash and Aria to follow him into cover behind an outcrop of rock. Green projectiles began to fire off from the crystal, obviously aimed at them.

"Dammit, Aria! Why'd you have to go and say something like that?!" scolded Ash, a spray of dust billowing out from near her head as one of the beams ricocheted off the rock they were taking cover behind.

"Oh, come off it! How was I supposed to know that the stupid rock was gonna start flying around and shooting freaking laser beams at us?!" Aria retorted, the anger in her helmeted voice all too apparent.

Matt exhaled softly, trying to think of a plan. "Alright, obviously we can't stay here forever."

"Oh, really? I had no idea."

Matt glared at Aria. "Look, soul crystal or not, the thing is still just made of rock. A good nova bomb should shatter that thing pretty easily."

"Hey! How come I've got to be the one to risk my neck here?" He smirked at her reaction.

"Well you were the one to jinx us. Only seems fitting that you fix the problem you created." She said nothing coherent, but he could hear her grumbling beside him at the injustice of the situation.

She pointed a finger accusingly at him. "You better create a distraction or something then. I'm not gonna let myself be a sitting duck as I get pelted with the green globs of whatever it keeps shooting at us."

Matt nodded, and turned to Ash. "You wanna help me out with this?"

"Oh, I would! But see, I appear to have misplaced my rifle." She gestured to herself, indicating she was unarmed. He'd forgotten that she'd chucked it at the last Waker earlier. "And I don't think it'd be a good idea to hop out of cover without a defense, right? I suppose you'll have to do this one on your own."

He couldn't see her face, but he could tell from the silky tone she'd taken on that she had a wolf's grin plastered over her facial features.

"Oh, for…" he sighed in exasperation. "Alright, fuck it." He rolled out of cover and began to run towards the exit of the cavern. The crystal followed his movements and he could hear the sizzle of the energy beams it was firing leaving scorch marks in the dirt, or fizzling out in the pond he splashed through.

Aria held up her end of the deal, and launched her self up into the air. Spinning quickly, she let loose a purple bomb of void that traveled in a clean arc towards her target. The Nova Bomb impacted against the crystal, causing cracks to appear throughout its internal structure. The pressure became too much for the rock to handle, and it shattered into many pieces, each of them falling to the ground in a heap of smoking crystalline chunks. A green mist began to seep from the rubble, accompanied by the hiss of something akin to gas leaking from a canister. It eerily sounded like something groaning in pain, and Matt could only think that it was likely the sound of Crota's dying soul being released from the crystal.

Ash peeked over the edge of their cover. "Hey, look at that. It's dead."

Aria gave a huff of air. "Yeah, thanks for the info Captain Obvious." She walked over to the remains of the crystal, and pulled out a shard that still held a bit of green glow to it. "Here's the proof that Eris asked for." She tossed it over to Ash, the latter catching it easily in her gauntleted fist.

"So, do we get to head back now?" Ash had directed the question to Matt, and he shrugged in response. "I guess so. I mean, unless you want to hang around on the moon some more?"

She shook her head. "No thanks, I think I'll pass on that offer."

Matt gestured for both of them to follow him. "Then let's go! Maybe the Seekers already finished off Omnigul, and we can get this show on the road."

-X-

 _This isn't good._

Scorch couldn't help but let that stray thought run through her mind as she dodged projectile after projectile.

 _Shut up, it's not like we don't know that. We can handle this._

 _No, the situation is already out of hand. This is past being able to handle._

She heard herself arguing with her inner voice, and hated to say it, but she agreed. Not that she'd admit that of course. She knew that they were going to set off a trap by Omnigul, but she hadn't realized just how crafty the Wizard was. Upon them entering, the exits had all locked and Omnigul had summoned quite a large amount of Hive; Knights, Acolytes, even a few Ogres, it was just a bit ridiculous. She probably would have made a joke about over-compensating if she wasn't evading gunfire constantly.

A blast of energy hit the ground just a few feet in front of her, and she stopped in her tracks, only to dodge in the other way as more gunfire tracked her movements. That had been too close, she'd actually felt the waves of heat roll off of her from the blast. She already had a scar across her left cheek, she didn't need any more.

"Scorch!" Her head snapped towards Dawn's voice. The Titan had popped a Ward of Dawn in the center of the room, protecting her and Eager who were standing inside.

She sprinted over to them, and rolled into the safety of the bubble. "Glad to see you could join us," said Eager, his arms up in a mock gesture of welcome. She ignored him.

"Dawn, how much longer can you keep this thing up?"

Dawn replied, her voice straining with concentration, "A bit, but it's not gonna hold out forever. Whatever you can do to help, do it soon!"

"What I don't get," muttered Eager, "is why Omnigul hasn't just destroyed the Warmind yet. I mean, isn't that what she came here for?"

Indeed, the Wizard did not look to be interested in the console anymore. Instead, she slowly began to cackle loudly, her screeching voice echoing off the walls of the chamber.

Scorch slapped her visor with the palm of her hand. "It was a diversion! Eris said it herself, she wants that orb thing! What better way to ensure it's unprotected than by luring the people hunting you away?" She looked up to see Omnigul beginning to glow green, which meant she was about to teleport out of here at any second.

"Eager, take her down with a Nova Bomb or something! Now!"

Obeying his leader, Eager leapt up out of the bubble, and let a ball of energy began to grow from his hand. He pulled back his fist, and then lobbed it over at the Wizard. It curved in an arc, spiraling towards the Hive general until it detonated in a purple spray of void. They waited for the smoke to clear before assessing the situation.

"Did… did you just…?"

"Ah, shit."

" _DID YOU JUST MISS?"_

Eager shrugged, as though that would divert the blame. "Hey, it was a spur of the moment thing! I got a bit nervous, can you blame me?" Sure enough, there was no sign of the Wizard anywhere.

Scorch groaned internally. "We need to follow her, but I don't see us getting out of here any time soon with this many enemies surrounding us!" She began to mutter under her breath, "You'd think that a super with a nearly twenty foot radius would have at least hit _something_ …"

Dawn groaned. "Guys, do something quick!"

Scorch turned back to Eager. "Alright, I know I'm asking you to chain supers here, but can you harness your Radiance?" He thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Good, but be forewarned, this is gonna take a lot out of you. When I give the mark, I want you to start heating up the air. Hopefully, they're as flammable as they look." She gave one last look around before she hopped up and reached her hand to her back for the bow that had just materialized there. She drew it back, and let three arrows fly in different directions; each landed where she'd marked, and became an anchor, tethering enemies and keeping them from running, as well as weakening them.

"Now!" Scorch fell back into the bubble just as Eager jumped out of it, surrounded by flame. He began to spin, allowing heat to generate from his body and sending jets of flame swirling around the room. Wherever a tongue of fire licked a Hive solider, their papery skin ignited and caused them to turn to ash. Soon, there were flashes of instant ignitions occurring all around the room as Thralls and Acolytes alike popped like kernels of corn. Scorch and Dawn remained safe within the Ward of Dawn, watching as the Warlock laid waste to to everything around them.

Finally, he fell back into the bubble, and Dawn released it. All around them were piles of ash, littered around from Eager causing essentially a hurricane of fire. He was hunched over from exhaustion, the result of having chained his supers.

Scorch patted him on the back. "There you go, let it out. Looks like you redeemed yourself for your terrible aim earlier." He snapped his gaze to hers, narrowing his eyes at her teasing remark.

"I hate to break the two of you up here," called Dawn, "but don't we have a Wizard to hunt?" Both Eager and Scorch looked over to where she'd moved, next to the exit. She waved her arm at them, urging them to follow.

The reality of the situation hit the Hunter once more, and her mouth set itself in a thin line. "Shit. Where do you think she'd go?"

"Well, like you said; she came here as a diversion to lure us away. This is her opportunity to take that orb of Eris's, so…" Scorch gulped and finished off Dawn's sentence.

"She's likely heading to the tower right now."

Not five minutes later, they were on their sparrows, heading back towards their ships for faster travel. Scorch held her wrist interface up to her helmet to open a channel. "Seekers to tower, come in tower! Zavala, we've got a problem!"

-X-

"And I just looked at him, and said 'so it's a challenge then?'" The Hunter in question began to laugh loudly alongside her companions who she'd been retelling that particular story to. They walked with her over to the vaults.

"Alright, now just let me grab-" What exactly she was about to grab, they didn't find out. A green hole materialized in the air in the center of the courtyard, and exploded outward with a rush of air. Nothing was actually damaged, but the force from the concussive blast was enough to knock anyone near it off their feet. Omnigul now hovered where the hole had first appeared, greenish smoke trailing off of her ghastly form.

"What the hell is going on out here? Why-" Cayde walked up the stairs to the courtyard from the Hall of Guardians, and saw what had caused the commotion. He immediately turned his head back toward where he came and yelled, "Uh, guys? We've got a bit of a problem here!"

Omnigul screamed, and threw a beam of blue energy straight for his head. Luckily, Cayde wasn't just the joker he always appeared to be, and expertly rolled out of the way, all while drawing his custom-made hand cannon from its holster. Upon his feet making contact with the ground, bullets were already tearing through the air toward the Wizard. Omnigul cast a defensive barrier made from some kind of dirt-colored energy field. The bullets impacted harmlessly against it, and dropped to the ground.

Zavala, Ikora, and Eris all made it up the stairs, coming as quickly as they'd heard Cayde warning. Zavala assessed the situation quickly and efficiently. "Eris, she's here for your orb! Keep it safe, we'll deal with her."

Eris snarled slightly. "Like those 'Seekers' were supposed to deal with her?" Zavala made no comment on the apparent failure of Scorch's team, and instead began to bark out orders as Eris retreated back into the hall.

"Guardians, assemble! Do not let Omnigul get to Eris!"

The Hive Wizard made another gargling sound, and swiped the air with her claws. In an instant, a collection of Knights and Acolytes had appeared to aid her. Without further pause, she and her troops moved to attack.

Guardians immediately began to take out the Acolytes, they posed little to no threat aside from being cannon fodder and keeping Guardians from charging head on. The Acolytes returned fire, and several Guardians were forced to take cover behind kiosks or the vaults. The Knights began to move in, trying to push past the Vanguards and make their way into the hall. They were putting up a hell of a fight, but there were simply too many enemies. Zavala punched an Acolyte's skull in, and was forced to retract his hand lest the blade of a Knight make contact and sever it. He gave a sharp kick to the Knight, and sent them stumbling back a bit, before he noticed that his wrist interface was lighting up.

 _"…come in tower! Zavala, we've got a problem!"_ Zavala grunted as he listened to Scorch's voice and simultaneously used the armor on his free forearm to deflect a few bolts of gunfire that an Acolyte had sent his way. "If it has anything to do with Omnigul coming to the tower, we're already more than aware of the situation!" He ducked to avoid another sword, and Ikora leapt over to defend him as he communicated. "How long until you can get here?"

 _"We'll be there in roughly four minutes!"_ Zavala nodded.

"I believe we can hold out that long; just make haste. We're in need of every available Guardian here!" With that, he cut the connection, and instead switched to an open channel, broadcasting to anyone on that frequency; "This is Zavala to all Guardians within a ten minute travel distance to the tower; we're under attack from Hive forces, and are attempting to delay them! They're after something here which they must not get their hands on! Cease what you are doing, and come to defend!"

That message would reach people no matter how far they were, but only a select few would be able to respond; Any Guardians on Earth would come, as would any currently on the Moon; but Mars and Venus were just a bit out of reach, and would be unable to assist. Hopefully they'd have enough.

Unfortunately, Omnigul was not partaking in the fighting; she had quickly chased after Eris, following her into the hall. Zavala called out, "Cayde!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it," came the Hunter's snarky response. Cayde quickly kicked his opponent away to gain a brief moment of respite, and followed Omnigul down the stairs.

He found the Wizard fighting Shaxx, who was giving a valiant effort to belay her. Becoming frustrated, the Wizard backhanded him and sent the crucible master tumbling into the wall. Then she rounded on Eris, armed with nothing but her fists and her orb.

Wasting no time, he unloaded his weapon into the Wizard's back. It didn't seem to do much, but at least it distracted her enough to get her to acknowledge him. The Hive general turned and screeched a challenge at him, giving Eris a chance to move back into cover, raising her claws and releasing more bolts of arc energy towards him. Again, he ducked, and reached around for his throwing knives. He let two fly, hoping at least one would find their mark, but Omnigul simply disintegrated them with her field before they could reach her.

"Oh, c'mon! Those were my favorite knives-" He didn't get to finish the sentence because Omnigul had charged him suddenly, and he sidestepped to avoid being smashed. She rounded on him again as he fumbled to reload.

Before she made a move however, a pair of arms appeared and wrapped around the Wizard's neck. Omnigul attempted to shake their attacker off, and rotated enough to where Cayde could see what was ailing her; Dawn had leapt up and was now literally riding the Wizard like a bucking bull. Scorch and Eager were trailing closely behind.

"Cayde, things are about to get kind of crowded down here!" The Exo looked up at the stairs where he noticed three Knights following them down the steps.

"Oh, great. Now you tell me."

Omnigul, having finally reached the end of her patience, reached around and grabbed Dawn by the shoulder, and then proceeded to fling her across the room. She crashed into the quartermaster's desk, and pretty much broke it in two with her momentum.

"Eager, focus fire!" Both he and Scorch attempted to suppress the Hive, but the chitinous armor that adorned both Omnigul and the Knights' body made it rather difficult for the bullets to have any lasting effect unless they found a weak spot.

Omnigul analyzed them, and finally selected a target. Hissing to the Knights, two of them took her order and began to move towards Cayde who was now kneeling next to Dawn, trying to get her to rise. He spun around, ready to meet their approach. Meanwhile, Omnigul and the last Knight looked over at the remaining two. It was then that Scorch realized that this final Knight was massive, its head was nearly scraping the fifteen-foot tall ceiling.

Omnigul raised her claws, and in a split decision, Eager moved in front of Scorch. He conjured up a reasonable wall of void energy, and used it as a shield to block the arc bolts that the Wizard was firing at them.

All the while he kept up the defense, the Knight walked forward, and drew back its sword. Gaining as much inertia as it could, it brought the blade forward in a massive swing, and let it slam into Eager's void shield. The shield immediately broke from the force, and Eager flew backwards into Scorch. They tumbled backwards into the chamber where the Vanguards usually resided, coming to a stop before the long table that stood in the center of the pit. Scorch felt Eager's limp form laying on top of her, and she grunted in effort as she tried to move him off of her.

The Knight continued to advance while Omnigul began to back Eris into a corner. Scorch raised the Last Word as a final stand, emptying round after round into the Knight. The bullets left dents in its armor, but nothing much more than that.

Omnigul smacked Eris down, and reached forward to grab the orb. "No…" Scorch heard Eris groan. Omnigul began to cackle in victory, and the Knight in front of Scorch raised its sword up to deliver the killing blow. She shut her eyes, awaiting the end.

The sound of a spark zapping to life silenced everyone. All turned to look at the entrance to the hall where three Guardians stood. In the middle was a Hunter, his body crackling with electrical surges that gave off a blue aura, surrounding him in a cool glow. A bladedancer's trance.

Matt drew his knife menacingly, and one could tell from his controlled body movements that he was tense. This was the behavior of someone who was very dangerous, and very pissed off.

Scorch felt a number of emotions swirling around in her mind. The first and foremost was relief that more help had arrived. The second was confusion, at how the Heroes had even managed to be come here. And the third was just a bit of anger; once again, Matt was going to step in and take over her mission. Albeit, things had gotten quite out of hand, but there was a spark of rebelliousness nonetheless- and she let it simmer a bit.

The Knights attacking Cayde and Dawn roared at them, jolting everyone back into action. Aria ran forward and began to assist Cayde in dealing with their attackers, while Ash and Matt sprinted forward to the chamber where Omnigul and Scorch were.

Matt made a beeline for Omnigul, and began to weave in and around her blue projectiles that she was so fond of throwing around. He continued to advance until he was close enough to start hacking away at her with his electrified knife, causing the Wizard to howl in pain.

The Knight decided to finish its original intention, and let its blade fall towards Scorch. She would have been killed if Ash had not taken the chance to barrel forward, and knock it off balance by charging into it. The blade flew out of its hand and stuck into the ground inches from Scorch and Eager's bodies. Once again, Scorch tried to shove the unconscious Warlock off of her so that she could rejoin the fray.

Ash was holding onto the leg of the Knight, just trying to keep it off balance; she knew that she was no match for it considering it was nearly up to the ceiling in height. Her act of stalling seemed to be working as the Knight clumsily stumbled about, until it reached down and pulled her off. Raising her up, it slammed her onto the table where she stirred slightly, incapacitated for the moment. The Knight took the chance to look over at its general.

Matt was climbing around on the Wizard's back, all while she tried to claw at him and throw him free of her. Unfortunately for her, Matt wasn't about to relinquish his grip, and upon finding a stable position, he grabbed at her neck with one hand to expose it, and then began to use his blade to saw through it in quick jerky motions.

The agony Omnigul was experiencing was quite obvious for the three seconds of her remaining life that she continued to scream until finally her neck was completely severed, and Matt tore her head free from her torso. Upon the moment of death, both the head and body began to dissolve into dust, Eris's orb falling to the ground with nothing solid left to support it in the air.

The Knight howled in anguish at its general being killed, and decided that it wasn't going to die without an act to even the score. Matt glanced over to see the Knight plucking its weapon from its embedded position in the floor, and reaching down to grab Ash who was still lying vulnerable on the table.

Without warning, it promptly held her in the air at arm's length as she weakly kicked to get free, and then skewered her upon the blade.


	32. From Bad to Worse

"ASH!" Scorch heard Matt's tortured yell off to the side, but could not do anything; she was frozen in shock at what the Knight had just done.

Ash's hands rushed to the wound in her chest, scrabbling futilely to remove the object impaling her. Bright blue liquid began to gush out of the opening, the equivalent of blood for an Exo. Slowly, Ash's movements began to desist until her hands fell limply to her sides. The Knight sloppily scraped her body off the blade where it fell onto the table like a rag doll.

With a cry of unparalleled fury, Matt charged the Knight, his bladedancer's trance rejuvenated in his emotional pain. Scorch looked down slightly to notice that she'd managed to unpin herself from Eager, and hurriedly scrambled up to where Ash was on the table, still bleeding out.

"H-hold on Ash, j-just hang in there…" she stammered. The hole in her chest was more destructive than Scorch had previously thought; with the blue gel-like blood now pouring all over the table and no longer obscuring view of the torso cavity, she could see that there were several mechanisms out of commission. A heart-like pump was trying ever so hard to keep the liquid circulating throughout her system, but failing as artery and vein-like tubes had been severed. Two bags of some artificial material were trying to inflate and deflate, although they weren't filling up properly due to one of them having been torn open.

All the while, Whip was zooming around and emitting small blue beams of light every so often, trying to repair what he could whether it was working or not. It was nauseating to see her body like this; people tended to think of Exos as just robots with souls, but they were so much more complex than that. Ash mumbled something incoherently, her eyes fluttering open and shut intermittently.

Meanwhile, the Knight had obviously messed with the wrong Guardian; Matt had taken little time in killing it by speedily jumping around and cutting its limbs off to incapacitate it. Once the Knight had fallen to the floor, he drove his blade into its face with one final thrust, and the creature breathed no more.

Immediately, his trance ended, and he left the knife in the Knight's head as he ran over to attend to Ash. "Whip, what's going on?!" he asked hysterically. "Why haven't you healed her yet?"

"There's some kind of dark essence from that blade; my light isn't nearly as effective as it should be right now! Her wound just won't heal properly, she needs to be physically repaired!" Matt nodded, all too aware of treating wounded people quickly before any other harm could come to them.

"She needs a medic! She needs help!" he yelled.

Cayde responded by pointing toward the exit; "Get her to the infirmary, I'll send a healer Warlock after you!" Matt nodded, and with one quick motion scooped Ash into his arms. He then tried to jog at a healthy balance between carefulness and speed towards the staircase, Aria running after them. She stopped to help Shaxx up to his feet, and let him lean on her as she helped escort the Titan up the stairs as well.

Cayde held his interface up to his mouth; "This is Cayde to all local Guardians, I need three healer Warlocks in the infirmary ASAP, we've got an Exo in dire need of surgery; some kind of substance is keeping her from being healed by light, and I'd rather her not die." He waited a moment until a green light winked on the interface, signaling that someone had accepted the order.

Silence filled the room once they'd left, save for the slow sound of dripping that came from Ash's blood spilling off the table and onto the floor. Cayde helped Dawn up to her feet, and gave a long sigh. "This could have gone a lot better. To be fair, it could have been a lot worse as well." He turned towards Eris while Dawn made her way over to Eager, his usual joking demeanor apparently gone for the moment. "Eris, you alright?"

The woman was picking herself off the ground, and clutched the her newly regained orb tightly. "I will be fine." Cayde nodded. "Good. Hopefully, Ash is the worst casualty that we've suffered today, and we don't have to see anything else like that soon." Dawn picked Eager up, and set off to take him to the infirmary while Eris followed behind her, leaving Cayde alone with Scorch. He began to walk off.

"Cayde… is Ash gonna be alright?" He turned to her, and looked troubled as he tried to find the words to answer her query.

"That's a tough one. Is it possible for Ash to turn out fine? Yes, absolutely; I've seen people come back from worse. But is it also possible that she dies? Certainly. Exos aren't just made out of a bunch of circuits that can be easily replaced, we've got much more fragile and complicated systems than that." He shrugged sadly. "So to answer your question, I don't know. I'd say that it's about a sixty/forty chance against her making it, but don't take that as a fact. Just keep a bit of hope alive for her."

Scorch felt a lump in her throat. "How does anyone… how do you deal with this so easily?"

The Hunter Vanguard gave another long sigh. "You learn to hide your emotions when you've been around as long as me. Sure, you can feel… but you can't let anyone else see, or else everyone would lose their calm. So I have to set an example, regardless of how much I care." He looked over at where Matt had disappeared.

"There are a few problem Matt has, but there's one big one that's truly detrimental; and it's that he cares too much." Scorch was shocked to hear him say that about his favorite apprentice. "Too much about his teammates, about his friends, about the mission… and sometimes those priorities contradict one another." He looked over at her. "I'm sure you've noticed how close he is with Ash?"

Scorch looked down at her feet. "I've always had my suspicions, though he's never outright told me, or any of us for that matter."

Cayde nodded. "Good choice on his part."

At this Scorch looked back at him in surprise. "What?"

"I've been in this city a long time. The kind of friendship they have…" He shook his head. "It's just not going to be healthy in the long run."

Scorch scrunched her eyebrows up in confusion. "How can you say that?"

"Because I've been where he is before." He chuckled. "What, never thought ol' Cayde had someone? Well, I mean, not anymore at least." He looked down, and pulled something from his belt. It was a playing card. "I had this whole system to keep track of things, like weapons. Spades for Hakke, that kind of thing. But hearts…" He showed her the card in his hand, a Queen of Hearts. "Well, hearts were for this girl I knew. I still keep one around, useless as it may be…"

Scorch asked tentatively, "What happened?"

He met her gaze with an unusually cool one. She'd never had a conversation with him for this long without him cracking a joke of some kind. "Reality happened, and gave me a big wake-up call. The life of a Guardian… there just isn't any room for attachments. Emotions can be toyed with, and regardless of your views about it, having loved ones can end up being a weakness should your enemies realize it." He gestured at the table where Ash's blood had collected. "Like what happened there. Not to mention that they aren't even the same… species? I mean, what do we Exos qualify as? 'Homo roboticus?' Sounds weird."

Scorch shook her head to try and clear his ramblings from her mind. "Hold on, how come it's a problem for them to be different from one another?" She knew of her own beliefs on the issue already, ever present in the back of her mind. If anything, she simply wanted to challenge them and see if they could be invalidated.

"Like I said, I've been there. You ever see anyone like them down in the city? Anybody to fit that picture except for them?" She let her mind run through all the memories of when she was younger, seeing if any stood out in likeness to what Cayde had suggested. She found none.

"A relationship like theirs is practically unheard of. Sure, every now and again you get the odd Awoken and human pairing, but at least they're both 'organic', right?" He gave a small huff of annoyance as he said the word, and Scorch thought that perhaps Cayde had more experience with this topic than he'd let on. "Now a human and an Exo… people don't think that it's possible for love to occur there."

Scorch felt he was speeding ahead. "Love? I mean, they're best friends, yeah, but..." Cayde looked over at her with an expression of _Really?_ on his face. She sighed.

"Okay, yeah. Pretty much everyone but them can see that there's... something there." He snorted.

" _Something_... yeah, that's a heck of a _something_ alright. I'll bet you didn't see many popular Exos down in the city during your… unfortunate childhood, right?" With a start, she realized he was right; almost everyone that she'd known had been either a human or Awoken. She'd see the occasional Exo roaming about, but almost always alone.

"What about it?"

"Well," he explained, "outside of the tower here… Exos aren't really liked. People see them more as products of humanity, property rather than equal beings. They don't trust 'machines' that can think on their own, and they certainly don't believe that they feel true emotion; they're of the opinion that everything is simply a expression of programming," he finished bitterly. "That's why we have so many Exos as Guardians here; it's just about the only work that they can get, you need every hand available when you're fighting for the survival of humanity."

He waved at the exit to the hall once more. "So yes, their relationship is unhealthy. Not only is it a potential point of vulnerability should the other face danger, but they'll likely face ridicule and discrimination where they go as a result."

Scorch fell silent, taking in all of this information. Finally, she settled on, "Are you going to do anything about it?"

He pointed at himself. "Me? Hell no. I'm probably one of the very few around here who sees what they truly are; not even Ikora or Zavala have a clue. The fact that they're so close is going to help hide that detail for a while. And it certainly isn't my place to judge or interfere." Again, he looked at the Queen of Hearts before he grunted and shoved it back into a pouch.

"Anyway… that's enough social commentary for right now. I'm going to go assess the damage of the attack; you should look into the conditions of Ash and Eager." With that, he strode out of the room leaving her alone with her thoughts.

She felt anger, a lot of it; anger for the situation, anger at the Hive, anger for the bigotry against Matt and Ash, and anger at Matt himself; she absolutely knew that he had to be in horrible pain right now, but she couldn't help but think that it was partially his fault. Had he not ordered the Heroes to interfere, Ash wouldn't be in this condition; that was on him, not her. But she also knew that the situation would be worse if he hadn't showed up. She was thankful for his help, but angry at how he'd handled it, trying to take over the situation rather than simply assisting.

Deciding that the best thing to do right now was to comfort her friend and stow any thoughts of scolding him, she set off for the infirmary, intent on helping any way she could.

-X-

"Alright, spinmetal!"

"Here you go."

"Ghost, start the process."

Scorch heard the voices of several healers in a room to her left, assumedly operating on Ash. There were a few specially designed rooms for more intrusive and imperative surgeries, but the vast majority of Guardians were treated out here in the main lobby; a large complex that almost appeared to be more of a well-kept and sanitary warehouse than a hospital. She stuck her hands into the pockets of her jacket, having taken the opportunity to change out of her armor into something more casual. Wearing it around just made her feel like she was waiting for another disaster to happen, and she didn't want to jinx anything.

It was a massive room with beds filling the center of it. Many injuries could simply be fixed with a bit of Radiance therapy and some bandages; anything superficial like that was dealt with here. Others like Ash were contained in the operating rooms that Scorch had walked by. She made the choice to look for Eager instead, as Ash's room was likely a bit hectic right now; she would check in later. Many beds in the main room were occupied as well, several healers darting around to attend to the Guardians who'd suffered things like broken fingers or a stray bolt in defending the courtyard.

Keeping her eyes peeled, she found Eager sitting on a bed near the nearest corner of the room, Dawn at his side. She strode over to them, alerting them to her presence with her footsteps. "Hey, you two alright?"

Eager nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Must've knocked a wire or something loose when they chucked you and me into the Vanguard's table. Came to in here pretty much unscathed. Chest hurts a bit, but they'll take care of that soon."

Dawn watched him as he spoke until he turned to her, awaiting her response on the matter as well. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was more worried about you two and Ash."

Eager winced, and faced Scorch again. "Yeah, Dawn told me about that. Is she gonna be alright?" Scorch opened her mouth to reply, but hesitated. What was she supposed to say, that Ash might end up dying because she tried to protect them?

He noticed her pause, and his eyes turned downcast. "That bad, huh?" Scorch realized her mistake, and grimaced.

"Well… the odds are against her, but not by much. Cayde seems to think that she's got a fair chance of pulling through as long as the healers do their job right." Eager nodded again, taking any kind of hope they had and building around it.

Dawn's gaze shifted to her. "What happened exactly? Why couldn't Whip just heal her like one normally would?"

Scorch furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not sure exactly, but from what I heard it seems that the Knight's blade was coated with something that kept light from affecting her; I'm not sure what that means if it comes down to her dying and whether or not she can be revived." She hadn't meant to freak either of them out, but the she could tell from the looks on their faces that they were troubled by this information.

"Jeez… I mean, I haven't seen or heard about anything like that since the Thorn…" muttered Eager. "Then again, Dredgen Yor did become corrupted from becoming too close to the Hive; maybe he learned it from them and infused it into his gun."

Dawn crossed her arms. "If that's the case, we need to keep that in mind when we go up against these Hive int he future; they seem different, more militarized than other encounters. Probably the result of being Crota's personal army."

Scorch picked up on something in Dawn's voice; she was putting up a facade of toughness, but there was a slight waver. She motioned to her; "Hey, Dawn; I gotta talk to you for a moment. Eager, we'll be right back alright?" The Exo nodded again, and placed his hand back on his abdomen where the pain originated.

Scorch pulled Dawn aways a bit, into an spot of the room where nobody could hear them; everybody else was focusing on getting treated.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Dawn looked like she wanted to confirm it, but couldn't without Scorch knowing she was lying. Scorch raised her eyebrows, still waiting for an answer. Dawn relented and a worried expression came over her features.

"I guess, it's just… Ash is like a sister to me. We may not be identical in the slightest but there's still that connection." She shuffled her feet. "I know you and Eager are good friends with her, but it's just a little bit more close to home for me. Sorry if that sounds odd."

Scorch didn't think that sounded odd in any way at all. Dawn was constantly trying to act different from her twin; Ash was emotional, Dawn was tough. Ash let things get to her at times, and Dawn let everything roll off of her. It may have had something to do with the fact that Ash was a different persona whereas Dawn's personality matched that of the Warrior's- but Scorch knew it was likely because Ash was the original of the two. And Dawn never wanted to seem like she was just a copy of someone else, in the same way that Ash was so drastically different from _her_ original; the Warrior.

She placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder. "Believe me, I'd be more worried if you weren't a bit depressed by this. You put up so many walls to look tough to everyone… it's alright to let them down every once in a while. I already know that you're probably the toughest person I know." She flashed a smile.

The Exo's blue eyes shone back at her, finding sincerity in Scorch's words. Unexpectedly, she pulled Scorch into a hug, and the Hunter had no choice but to reciprocate, patting the Titan's back ever so softly.

"Thanks." said Dawn simply. Nothing else was needed, both friends understood the other fine.

They pulled apart to the sound of approaching footsteps. Looking toward the source, they found Aria walking up to them with a grim expression on her face.

"How are you two doing?" she asked briskly. Scorch noticed that he usually optimistic and enthusiastic attitude was missing, without a doubt the result of how close she was to Ash and what she was going through.

"We're fine," answered Scorch carefully. "Is Ash alright?"

The Awoken exhaled deeply in stress. "Why don't you two come see?"

-X-

Aria entered the room first, followed by Dawn and then Scorch. There was more then enough space in the room so long as people didn't crowd around the bed in the middle of it.

Matt was sitting in a chair at the bed's side, watching its occupant intently. Apparently, he'd had the same idea as Scorch, and had dressed into a different change of clothes while the healers had operated; he had on his usual off-duty attire of black jeans and a jacket. He turned toward the sound of people entering the room, appeared to approve of Aria coming in, and then promptly widened his eyes at the entrance of Dawn and Scorch. They narrowed a moment a later, but he did not comment on it; instead, he turned back to watching Ash. Scorch looked her over as well, assessing the Exo.

Ash's chest still had a large hole in it, but all the machinery inside had been replaced and repaired to the best of Whip and the healers' abilities. The heart-like pump that she'd earlier was now pulsing stably, if not a bit slow. The torn air-bag had been completely replaced; while the untouched one was a black color, this one was silver, though otherwise identical in appearance and function. The blue gel-blood was no longer spilling out thankfully, but dried remnants still stained the edges of the gap in her chest, a small reminder of what the Exo had survived.

"She's not awake yet, her body nearly shut down to preserve life-functions," explained Aria shakily, "but she should come back around in a while." Dawn looked over at her twin with something akin to a mixture of both relief and sadness in her eyes; sadness at how bad a state she'd been in, but relief that she was going to pull through.

"It was touch and go for a while," continued the Warlock. "Whip had to physically operate and replace all the broken bits of her while the healers kept her stable and alive." She looked over at her friend on the bed. "That dark essence sure didn't help, though the healers estimated it would wear off in a few days. Scary thought. But hopefully she'll be back up and fighting soon." At this note, Aria's voice sounded just a bit more like her usual self, and Scorch could tell she was happy with the prospect.

Matt said nothing all the while, just staring intently at Ash's face, waiting for him to wake up.

"Matt?"

He turned to look over at Scorch who was tentatively testing the waters. She tried to think of something to ask, but all her questions sounded dumb. _'Are you alright?'_ No, of course he wasn't alright, his best friend had nearly died a few minutes ago.

He seemed to understand that she couldn't think of something proper to say, and rather than filling in the blanks, he ignored her. Instead, he turned to Aria and said, "I need to go see Eris. Can you watch her for a bit?"

Aria nodded without a moment's pause. "Absolutely."

He grunted in acknowledgement, and stood up. "She's gonna need to see you too Scorch." That was the only direct statement he issued to her before he walked out, not bothering to wait. Scorch weighed her options, and quickly decided to follow Matt.

She jogged to catch up to him leaving the infirmary, and now walking across the courtyard. "Hey, uh, what are seeing Eris for?" He didn't answer her, and just continued on down the stairs to the Hall of Guardians as Scorch tried to keep pace.

Scorch was getting bit tired of the silent treatment here, and just wanted him to do something; whether it was talking or yelling at her, she didn't care. She just wanted a sign that he acknowledged her.

Matt approached the table where the Vanguards and Eris stood near, discussing the aftermath of the attack. "So we've got no fatalities, just a few injuries and then Ash." Cayde confirmed Ikora's question with a quick nod.

"It seems that way. We managed to come out luckier than we should have-" He stopped when he noticed that Matt had entered the room. "Hey. How're you holding up?"

Matt shrugged. "I'm fine; she pulled through. I'm just here to do my job." He walked over to Eris who stood at a distance from the table, observing the Vanguards. "I believe you asked for this before we left."

He procured a shard of something; Scorch remembered Eris asking him to bring her proof that the soul-crystal had been destroyed. She guessed that this was it.

Eris took it gratefully, and looked at him. "Excellent. This will bring us one step closer to destroying Crota." She gestured toward the various battle damages and marks around the room they were in. "And I saw firsthand that Omnigul has been destroyed. I have you to thank for that as well." She didn't say anything, but Scorch could've sworn that she detected the bite of a subtly hidden jab at Scorch and her fireteam.

"What's the next step?" he asked. Scorch was amazed; after all that had happened, he was still rearing about to finish the mission? Maybe Cayde had been right; his priorities were getting messed up, and he was using work as a way to cope with his grief. That wasn't safe.

Fortunately, Cayde seemed to sense the same thing, and walked over. "Well, Eris; I mean, they got done what you needed immediately, there's no rush is there? Especially with one of their members in such a critical condition?" Eris looked like she wanted to argue at first, but realized what he was getting at. "Of course. A respite would be beneficial for everyone; tend to your wounded, Guardian. I will notify you when we have need of you."

Matt opened his mouth, probably to say something stupid like 'I'm fine', but closed it without a sound. He just bowed slightly, and and turned around to leave. Cayde gave Scorch a knowing look, and motioned for her to follow him. She knew what he wanted her to do, and she agreed. She followed after Matt hurriedly.

He was already at the top of the stairs when she caught up to him. "Matt, it's nothing personal. They just think that you need a break." He said nothing, ignoring her again.

She clenched her teeth. "Matt? Hello?" He continued on without acknowledging her.

She'd finally had enough, and stopped in the middle of the courtyard. "Look, this isn't helping anyone. If you're pissed at me, come out and say it; but don't walk around ignoring me like I'm beneath you or some-"

He spun around so quickly that she was surprised he didn't fall over. "Oh, I'm pissed. And I'm only keeping silent so that I don't start saying things that I might regret later, despite how much you may deserve them right now."

She crossed her arms, refusing to let this slide. "Alright then, hit me with it. Let it out."

Matt debated with himself for a moment, but quickly took her up on her offer. "Where do I start? How about with the fact that my best friend almost died today? Huh? Do we want to get that little tidbit out of the way?"

Scorch uncrossed her arms, and held them out toward him in a submissive manner. "Look, I feel horrible for what happened to Ash; but I don't see how you can come around and blame me of that."

He scoffed. "How about the part where she was injured because she was trying to protect you? Trying to protect you from a situation that I'm sure you'll say you had 'under control', am I right?" His voiced was now escalating in volume, not quite at the point of yelling, but he'd be there soon.

Other Guardians were starting to look at them, watching the spectacle unfold. She shook her head. "The situation got out of hand, absolutely; but that wasn't on us. We were tricked, Omnigul tricked us. She was never meant to come here, _nobody_ was prepared for that."

He laughed mirthlessly. "See, that's your problem Scorch. 'Nobody was prepared for that'. You don't consider all the possibilities, all the ramifications of your actions; you go charging into things without thinking about the consequences, and then you deal with them later."

"That's not fair," she argued, "it's not like you don't do the same thing." He froze.

"What?"

"When you guys were just starting out as a team, I know you did the same things I've done! The Black Garden, meeting the Stranger, it's all the same thing! You just managed to have better luck with it, at least until you challenged the Vault." He glared at her, but let her speak. "And this, just now? You came expecting to swoop in and fix everything on the spot, but guess what? Things didn't pan out, and Ash almost died!"

"How dare you imply-"

"Oh, I _do_ imply," she continued boldly. "I don't think either of us are at fault; people get hurt. But if I am somehow considered to be at fault here, then you can be guaranteed that you share some of that blame with me for ordering your team to interfere!"

" _Interfere?!"_ he yelped, taken aback. "What the hell did you think we were trying to do, uh- uh- steal your thunder?" He pointed accusingly at her. "Did you think that we were there just because we wanted to show off? We got a message from Zavala while we were flying back here, and came as soon as we could! It wasn't a matter of credit!" Now he was shouting, obviously furious with her in disbelief that she'd seemingly accuse him of something so petty.

Both of their Ghosts materialized, and hovered to a few feet away. "You two both need to just take a deep breath, and-" began Seraph, but Matt cut her off.

"Not yet, she wanted this, now she's gonna get it." Spectre said nothing, allowing Scorch to fend for herself here.

"I agree, it's not a matter of credit; it's a matter of the fact that regardless of your intent, people got hurt!" She pointed back towards the infirmary door behind Matt. "Eager got hurt, Ash got hurt, and it probably could have been even worse! My point is that you need to come to terms with that, and stop trying to protect everyone!"

He was still fuming at her, but his eyes narrowed a bit in confusion. "What?"

"You have this habit, this flaw of thinking that you can save everyone!" Now she was on the same volume as he was, shocking the onlookers with the ferocity of their dispute. "Trying to take on the Black Garden alone, sacrificing yourself in the final battle for the Traveler, we're not helpless!"

Seraph looked over at Scorch nervously, "Scorch, maybe you should tone it down before you say something-"

Scorch knew that the Ghost was right, but she couldn't keep the words from tumbling out of her mouth. "You keep saying that I need to learn how to think of the consequences; well, you need to learn that you aren't the line between life and death!" She took a deep breath, trying to will herself to stop but her mouth wasn't cooperating;

"Stop comparing every person that you know to Sara! I get that she died, I get that you felt helpless to stop it! But people die everyday; that's a part of living, and you need to get over it! Not everyone you know is going to die like she did!"

Her hands flew to her mouth to cover it in realization of what she'd just said, but the damage was done. Scorch instantly knew that she'd gone too far as Matt's eyes widened, and his face lost all expression in shock. All were silent, and no one, not she, he, nor any of the circle of Guardians around them said anything.

Seraph and Spectre just looked at her. "Scorch…" She could here the disbelief in Seraph's voice, and the hurt that Scorch had used that private information against Matt.

She reached forward a tiny bit. "Oh my God, I- I… Matt, I didn't mean that-"

Nothing could have prepared her for the fist that smacked into her jaw, sending her reeling backwards. She could hear the collective grasp of the crowd around them, at a loss for words at the act of aggression.

Regaining her footing, she reached a hand up to her mouth and felt her lip; her hand came away bloody. She looked up in time to see Matt throwing another punch, and she quickly ducked to the side. She grabbed the base of his arm, and pulled him towards her, sending a knee into his abdomen once he was close enough. Having stunned him, she threw him back.

It was his turn to stumble backwards, hand clutching his side to apply pressure and hopefully make the pain disappear faster. Scorch decided that the best move was to strike while he was distracted; otherwise, there was no way she was going to best him in a physical fight, he was just too experienced.

She jumped forward and kicked at him, but he'd already sidestepped and grabbed her leg. Using her forward momentum, he simply added it to his own and threw her behind him, where she landed on the ground and skidded a few feet.

"Stop! Please, Matt!" Seraph's cries for reason went unnoticed as the Hunter simply walked past his Ghost, refusing to address her. Scorch had never seen him like this before; it was like he'd snapped, and suddenly was no longer in control of his actions. She was in a dangerous position indeed.

He bent down and let a hand stretch toward her throat. She used her arms to grip his hand for support, and then swung her legs over it until she had her feet against his head. Now, she began to push away, causing tension to strain in his shoulder socket.

Grunting, he began to lift her up into the air. She looked around wildly, shocked at how much adrenaline must be pumping through his system to allow him to do this. Then, he let her weight and his added force fall once more, and slammed her into the ground.

She immediately relinquished her grip on him, her eyes seeing stars. She focused her eyes back on Matt, seeing him livid with fury and, scarily enough, with his blade drawn. She inhaled sharply, pitting hope against hope that he wouldn't dare use that here.

Before it was seen exactly what he would do with it, a voice rang out; "STOP!"

Matt ceased what he was doing, and he, Scorch, and the rest of the audience around them turned toward the source. Cayde was standing there, a deadly expression on his face. He appeared unarmed, but unpin closer inspection, she saw his hand inching very close to where his concealed hand cannon was. Behind him stood Aria and Eager, all three of them looking at the scene before them like one would analyze a bomb; carefully, and ever aware of how dangerous the situation was. This was a level of chaos that Scorch was completely unfamiliar with; how had everything fallen apart so fast?

Her friend's chest was heaving with exertion and the hyperactive state his body had just been in. Matt looked at Cayde with something like confusion in his eyes.

"Put it away, Matt." Cayde gestured toward the object in Matt's hands, and he finally looked down. He saw the knife as though for the first time, and his eyes widened with surprise. He quickly let it drop to the floor, as though afraid of what he'd almost been about to do with it.

"I- I…" he stammered, and Scorch realized that just like her, he'd never meant for things to progress this far. He looked at Scorch with a frightened look in his eyes, reflecting the same one that she was giving him. There was a silent agreement that they'd both come to and knew that the other had realized it as well; Matt could have easily killed her if Cayde hadn't stepped in. He'd overpowered her without too much difficulty, and had very nearly lost complete control of his proper judgement. Neither of them was sure if he would've stopped himself, and both were grateful for the outside intervention.

Cayde let his hand fall away from his gun, and sighed with the depressing feeling that came from nearly having to go up against one of his closest friends. "Ash is asking for you, Matt. I told her you'd come as soon as you could."

Reason was beginning to make its way back into the mind of the Hunter standing above her. She could see his eyes blinking as he made sense of both the situation and what Cayde was telling him. Slowly, he began to walk away from the scene, towards the infirmary. Without warning, he stopped, and turned back towards her.

The look he was giving her was conflicted; she saw both emotions of anger and fear flitting across his face, both directed at her but in different ways. Matt gave her a quick nod; one that said, _This isn't over_.

Then he set off again in the direction of Ash.

The crowd began to disperse until nobody was left but Scorch, Cayde, Aria, and Eager. The other three looked at her with blank expressions, they were unsure of what to think.

"What happened?" asked Eager softly. Scorch shook her head, unsure of what to say but just knowing that she wanted to put it off until later.

"No, you haven't earned the right to silence." That came from Aria, her arms crossed over her chest. "We come out here to see what all the noise was about, and you two were just about to kill each other."

Seraph appeared at Aria's shoulder. "I… I talked with her a few days ago, and told her about why Matt is so overprotective of everyone. I explained about what happened to Sara…"

The Awoken girl's eyebrows shot up to match the widening of her eyes. "No!"

Seraph's gaze drifted towards the grunt. "And she brought her up, threw her death in his face. Told him that he shouldn't keep trying to protect everyone because of what happened to her."

The Warlock turned towards Scorch, still laying on the ground. "In that case, I almost don't blame him. I mean, did you have a death wish? To talk about something so personal to him in the disgusting way you did… it's enough to make anyone snap. If I remember correctly, my advice to you as a kid was to 'be brave', not 'be a reckless asshole'."

Scorch felt her eyes moistening, and she blinked rapidly. "I-I messed up. I went too f-far…" For this, none of them had a response. Scorch had always been the most resilient of them, having learned to never show anyone how she was feeling; years of living on the streets had done that to her. To see that shell breaking was a shock for them all.

"I n-never meant to h-hurt him like that. I shouldn't have said w-what I said," she muttered sniffling.

Aria snorted. "You think? Look, I don't blame you for Omnigul's attack, or for what happened to Ash. She was injured doing her job, same as what could have happened to anyone." She jabbed a finger at Scorch. "But it goes without saying that what you just did is… well, I can't say unforgivable with certainty, maybe Matt has a softer side than I do. But if I know him as well as I think I do, then I wouldn't count on it. When you're ready to act like a real Guardian, like his friend… then you can talk to him again. Until then, leave him alone." With that, Aria headed back the same way Matt had.

Cayde took a second to get his bearings, and then left without saying anything; somehow, his silence said more about his thoughts than any speech of his ever could.

Eager just walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "You alright?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she stared at the ground, thinking of how she may have just lost one of the few true friendships she had, and wondering if she had any hope of ever getting it back.

* * *

A/N: Alright, so BIG conflict here. Whose side are you on? Do you all think Scorch or Matt is in the right? Feel free to let me know in the reviews below, I seem to be suffering a drought of them at the moment. Seriously, FEED ME YOUR THOUGHTS...

A joke of course, but they do motivate me to get the next chapters out faster; plus I don't know how you guys are feeling unless you let me know. So...

Anyway, the next few chapters should calm down just a bit; they're going to focus on recovery and how Scorch and Matt are dealing with their fallout. So be prepared for that!


	33. Enlightenment

Ash turned her head weakly when she head footsteps walking down the hall outside her room. Within a few seconds, she was able to put a face to the sounds when Matt walked through the open doorway. She tried to smile in an attempt to show him she was fine, but she could tell that he wasn't having any of it.

His eyes first looked over at Dawn who was kneeling next to the bed, having been talking with Ash. Dawn followed her twin's gaze to the doorway, and hastily stood up. "I'll be back in a bit," she muttered, trying to give the other two some alone time to discuss what had happened.

He walked over to the chair that he'd left at her bedside, and sat down, his back hunched over and his hands clasped together in between his legs. Ash had seen Matt worried before, she knew his facial expressions and body language all too well.

"Hey," she called softly. He said nothing, but she watched his eyes spark in acknowledgement. She figured that he was going to remain that way until someone calmed him down, and apparently that job was now left to her.

"Look, I'm fine," she said, trying to assuage his fears. "I'm fine, everything's gonna be okay." Without saying a word, Matt reached over and lifted up the blanket that she'd been using to conceal the gaping hole in her chest. He just looked at her, expecting her to comment on that and attempt to form a rebuttal.

She sighed. "Everything is in working order there, I can breathe fine again, and they're going to fix up the plating there so that my innards aren't exposed anymore," she said with a lighthearted tone.

"I almost lost you today."

Her eyes immediately lowered, hearing the pain in Matt's voice. Hearing it so apparent in his tone and for her sake just made her feel horrible. "I know, but the point is that you didn't. I'm here, I'm right here." She reached over a hand, and he reciprocated by extending his own and holding hers gently in it, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

"I know, I know." He exhaled deeply. "I just… you know that I get worried. Especially with how bad a condition you were in." She said nothing; she actually didn't know how bad things had gone with her, she'd been unconscious for most of the time after she'd been impaled. And from Matt's tone, she wasn't sure she wanted to know just how close to death she'd come.

"So, everything's good?" she asked.

He nodded. "Omnigul's dead, we destroyed the crystal; all that's left is to wait for Eris's word, and it's off to kill Crota for us."

She smiled sadly. "Just one mission after another with you, huh?" He sighed, and his eyes turned slightly to where he wasn't meeting her gaze.

"I don't know. I just needed something else to focus on, something to keep you out of my mind." He looked back at her, an apologetic expression on his face. "Sorry if that sounds harsh."

She shook her head. "Not harsh, I get it. Can't be falling apart on everyone." She thought about the reason she'd challenged that Knight in the first place. "How's Scorch? Is she alright?"

At the mention of the other Hunter's name, Matt's eyes darkened, and flicked to his hands. Ash followed the brief movement, and saw something that surprised her. "Is that _blood_?"

He wiped his hands on his jacket. It wasn't very much, but it was blood nonetheless. "It was nothing; we just had a bit of a spat."

"A 'spat' left you with blood on your hands? What'd you do, beat her up?" She said it with a slight joking tone in her voice, but surprisingly he shrugged unapologetically.

"Just popped her in the mouth pretty well. Cayde stopped things before they got too out of hand." He held a hand up as she began to sit up to scold him, "I didn't want anything to get that far, but she pushed way past her limits and some personal boundaries."

"What boundaries?" she asked incredulously. She'd never known Matt to get so angry that he'd snap and attack a fellow Guardian except when he'd protected her from the three rogue Guardians who still thought she was the Warrior and had tried to throw her off the tower.

He looked away, and took several seconds before answering. "Somehow, she knew about Sara. Pretty sure that Seraph might have told her. And she decided to throw her death in my face, saying that I was comparing you to her."

Ash had no words; Scorch had brought _Sara_ into this? That was low, way too low. Still, she was more logical in her assessment of the situation than anyone else apparently; tensions had likely been high for both teams, seeing as Scorch had just finished trying to take down Omnigul and gotten stuck in the middle of a small invasion of the tower, and Matt had been dealing with the fact that Ash had been in critical condition. It was no wonder that they both probably did several things that each of them regretted.

"You didn't blame her for me, did you?" she whispered. He kept his gaze away from her, refusing to meet her eyes. It was all but a confirmation.

"Matt…" she said, wondering how she could fix this. "That wasn't her fault, and I know that you know that just as well as I do." He still said nothing, but his shoulders were tensing up, showing that he was definitely listening to her. She sat up straighter against the frame of the bed, despite the slight pain that it took to do so.

"Look at me." He obeyed, and she found herself looking into his pained eyes, hints of shame hidden behind them. Blue stared into green, unyielding.

"I want you to tell me that you know it's not her fault," she said sternly. He waited a few moments, but relented.

"Of course I know it's not her fault; but with all the stress of everything spiraling out of control, her total disregard for the severity of the situation, and then the way she provoked me…" He snorted derisively. "She sure as hell didn't make it too hard to see a connection, even if there wasn't one. My mind just needed someone to blame, and I guess she put herself in the line of fire."

Ash nodded knowingly. "I get it, believe me. But things still need to be fixed between you two." He returned her nod.

"Oh, I know. But not right now, I'm thinking that maybe I need a bit of space from her. Once I get a clear head back on my shoulders, I'll be sure to patch things up. So long as she's willing to do the same."

Ash laughed. "Oh, believe me, I'm sure that after a smack like the one you probably gave her, she'll be all for getting on your good side." Matt rolled his eyes.

"Oh, she's tougher than she lets on; she can take a sock to the jaw every now and then." He smiled.

They sat there contentedly, simply enjoying the silence and each other's company for once. Matt thought about when the last time they'd had a chance for quality time together was, and he felt more than a little disappointed that they hadn't had the opportunity to relax for a long time. An idea struck him, and he realized that maybe he could take up Cayde and Eris on their order to rest and wait for further instruction.

"You said that the healers are gonna come in here and repair your plating?"

She nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, in a few hours. Once they do, I'll be good as new and released. However, I'm pretty sure that Whip said something about Light not working on me for a few days."

He smirked. "Well, I've got an idea then. And don't worry, the Light detail won't be an issue." He stood up.

"Where are you going?" she asked confusedly. He held his hands up in submission.

"I'm just gonna let Dawn come back in here for a while; besides, I need to set up something with a contact of mine. I'll be back soon." With that, he stepped out of the room, leaving her to ponder what it was he was discussing with this so-called 'contact' of his.

-X-

Scorch strolled down the sidewalk, her hands in her jacket pockets. She wore her hood up, attempting to protect herself from the elements. It was winter as evidenced by the cold sparrow race she'd had a few weeks ago and the light snowfall that drifted through the air now; though it rarely snowed hard in the city, there were often freak storms in the winter like the one happening currently which left the city under a layer of white fluff. It may have been pretty if she'd been someone else, but her personal experiences when it came to dealing with frost and freezing temperatures involved huddling for warmth in a cardboard box as a homeless teen.

After the colossal breakdown of the situation earlier, she'd decided to take up Aria's advice and head out on her own for a bit. Eager would be fine on his own, probably try to see what he could help the task force with, and Dawn wanted to be with Ash for a while. Scorch was perfectly content letting both of them do that, as she wanted nothing but to be left alone for awhile.

There was no denying it now; she'd screwed up. Matt had given her a chance, albeit reluctantly, when Eris had assigned Scorch to kill Omnigul. She had taken that chance, and not only had she been unable to contain the situation, the Heroes had to step in, and Ash had nearly died.

Not only that, but she'd acted like a brat; trying to find someone to pin her troubles on rather than accepting her own mistakes. She found a small part of her still arguing for her original side, but now the majority of Scorch's mind sided with Matt; she'd been careless, unprepared. And then she had to bring up Sara's death and use it against him. _She_ wouldn't even forgive someone if they had said what she did to her. So who was she to ask that Matt do it?

She stepped around another civilian, one of the few passerby out and about like her. No, the only choice was to take his criticism and learn from it. This wasn't usually like her; but maybe she didn't want to be usual anymore. This was a new, more mature Scorch that walked around in the city streets, one with a slightly wider understanding of how the world worked than the Scorch that had fought Matt in the tower.

Maybe she needed a drink to calm her nerves. She looked around, noticing that she was in a part of the city that wasn't as… well, proper as the rest of it. It was more of a low-life area, where people probably weren't gonna be as kind. Still, that didn't mean much. She could handle herself fine, and she'd had to pass through parts like these as a kid without incident. As she craned her neck around, she spied a bar, appearing to be in reasonably better condition than the rest of the surrounding area, and she set off at a brisk pace for it.

She pushed open the doors and stepped inside quickly, trying to be polite and keep the snowfall from tracking in with her. There were a few other customers inside, most of them sitting at the bar counter, though a few of them sat at small tables that adorned the rest of the place every so often.

She decided to follow the popular example, and found a lone seat at the far end of the bar, away from other people and prying eyes. The bartender walked over to her, and grunted. She took that as an inquiry of what she was going to order.

"Some type of whiskey if you've got it," she muttered. He shrugged, and moved a ways way to grab some bottles and pour them into a glass. He placed it on the counter, and slid it down to her waiting hand. She raised it up to her lips, and drank, feeling the burn of it against her throat in a satisfying feeling not unlike a cleanse. Spectre materialized discreetly, and hovered next to her on the left where he wouldn't be seen.

"There's no point in my chastising you when everyone else has already done a good enough job of it." She sighed, and faced the Ghost.

"Then what's your point?"

He wavered a bit in the air. "I don't really have a point. I mean, you know you screwed up, and you're probably kicking yourself the hardest right now, and rightfully so. I'm just asking; are you going to fix it?" She knew that he was referring to the bond between her and Matt. She exhaled slowly, mulling that one over in her mind.

"I have to try. I know that I have to make things right, and I'm definitely capable of that; but whether he'll want to have any ties afterwards, I don't know. And I'm fine if he doesn't, because I was a horrible friend to him, and honestly I don't deserve his friendship right now." She shook her head angrily at herself. "I can't believe I said something so wrong to him. I had no right to do that."

Spectre bobbed in the air in agreement. "See, you're maturing already. Like I said, no point in adding onto the scolding from me, you're already doing a great job of it yourself."

She rolled her eyes, but smirked nonetheless. "Thanks."

Suddenly, she heard the sound of the door to the bar opening, and the whistle of the wind as it tried to enter after the person using it. Sounded like the storm was getting worse.

She saw the bartender glance up at the newcomer, and immediately narrow his eyes. "Hey, we don't serve your kind here. Hit the road!" he called, jabbing his thumb to the side. Scorch was taken aback by the bartender's attitude, and turned around to see who had entered.

It was an Exo, their entire form covered with flakes of snow and his joints creaking from the ice that had been forming on them. The figure seemed to be that of a male, taller and with a frame more like Eager's than that of Ash or Dawn. They wore clothing that looked like it might help against the cold a little, but obviously wasn't ideal; he wore nothing other than a pair of old jeans with several holes in them, and a thin black jacket covered with white flecks of ice.

"I'm not looking for a drink, don't worry. I just want to be somewhere warmer than it is out there." He nodded his head toward the door, iterating how cold and chilling it was at this time.

The bartender shook his head. "I didn't ask what you're looking for, whatever it is you ain't gonna find it here. Doesn't matter if it's a cardboard box for all I care, but you can find someplace else to hole up in tonight."

Scorch couldn't believe her ears, and expected someone to call out the obvious bigotry. But none of the other customers seemed even remotely disturbed by the incident, and kept their heads turned away as the Exo looked from person to person, looking for any support from the patrons. She realized that he wasn't going to find any at the same time that he did, and he sighed, pulling the hood of his jacket back up as he prepared to enter the blistering cold again. He turned to the door.

"Uh, no." All fell silent as the Exo stopped moving, and turned toward the sound of Scorch's voice. The bartender also saw her, and narrowed his eyes.

"If you'd like, you can get out too lady. I have the right to tell him to shove off." She was already shaking her head, and revealed Spectre to the entire establishment.

"Actually, you don't. At least not while I'm here; see, I'm a Guardian in case you haven't noticed. I'm one of the people who helps defend all of humanity from extinction, extinction from several races of aliens that want _all_ of us dead, organic or not. And I talk with the Vanguards daily, y'know those people who are basically in charge of the city and your protection? Oh, and one of which is an Exo?" She smirked as she rubbed it in his face, though she was fuming inside. Who did this racist asshole think he was?

"So if you don't mind, I'm going to _officially_ request politely that you refrain from throwing him out. I suppose it's your choice, but just know that the alternative is having the Vanguards find out about this little incident; and I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy about it." She shrugged, and waited for his decision.

The bartender was slightly red in the face and looked like he wanted to argue, but with one final expression of disgust that he cast over at both her and the Exo, he turned around and left them alone. Scorch stood up away from the counter, and walked over to one of the tables in a more secluded part of the bar, beckoning for the Exo to follow her.

He did as she gestured, and sat opposite of the seat that she took. Upon sitting, he began to try and scrape away the ice-crystals and snow that had frozen on his face. She saw that he was a mix of maroon and white coloring underneath all the snow, and his eyes were a vibrant amethyst. She cleared her throat.

"Sorry about that," she muttered quietly so that only he could hear. "But at least it turned out alright, and you're not out in the cold any more."

The Exo said nothing, but just stared at her silently as he rubbed his arms to generate friction and warmth back into them. She was surprised to see suspicion in his eyes. "Is there something wrong?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just not used to having anyone try to help me, and I'm a bit confused as to why you did."

"What do you mean?"

He pointed at himself emphatically. "Look at me, I'm an Exo! An inorganic! I don't have emotions, right? Nothing other than property that's incapable of feeling?" he asked, bitterness ever apparent in his voice. Scorch was pained to hear him talk about himself like this, probably due to hearing nothing else for the entirety of his life. She remarked on how few Exos she'd seen in her time growing up, and this was probably why; what reason would they have to interact with humans and Awoken if they were just rejected every time?

She pursed her lips. "I don't believe in that crap. The whole, 'they don't have emotions' thing is utter garbage, I've seen it up-close." The Exo looked astonished at her radically different view, and she looked away. "I wish I could say that I was like this forever, but I know that when I was younger I used to believe it; I didn't have any other people taking care of me when I was living on the streets, and I knew nothing save for what they told me. All those stereotypes, the beliefs that the people of the city held, I had them too for a time."

She shrugged. "But I stopped when I met Spectre. He gave me a better understanding of them, and I came to realize that the best way to live the way I did was to stick together as a community, to take care of one another and watch out for each other. Didn't matter if you were organic or not. Of course," she said, shame creeping into her voice as she thought about her initial feelings about Matt and Ash's friendship, feelings that she'd buried a long time ago in the back of her mind, "previous biases do try to come up every now and again. It's just a matter of shoving them back down in favor of what I believe now."

The Exo said nothing, but his mouth was slightly agape. She supposed that he hadn't heard an opinion like hers in a long time, perhaps ever. He quickly shut it again, probably trying to save face. He grunted. "Who are you?"

"Scorch. And you?" she responded.

He took a moment before replying, "Name's Rook-4. Obviously, you can leave off the number." She nodded, grateful for him sharing his information with her.

"Out of curiosity, why didn't you shut off your neuro-sensors? I mean, that would take care of the cold problem right?" she asked. Rook appeared to ponder that for a moment, and then shrugged.

"It just doesn't feel right. Like, imagine as if every sensory input of yours was suddenly turned off; you can't taste, hear, see, or feel anything." He gestured to himself. "Obviously it doesn't go that far, but the feeling is the same; my sense of feeling is the one thing that keeps my feeling like a normal person, and I don't like to give it up unless I have to, no matter how uncomfortable it gets."

She could understand that, not wanting to sacrifice such a valuable sense. Not only was it probably valued highly by him, but not having it on could probably lead to a vulnerability of being unable to sense what's going on around him. And he would probably have to constantly be on his toes and aware of his surroundings if he was living out on the streets in this part of the city.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" That question came as a surprise, and she found his purple eyes staring intently at her. "There's no way a Guardian like you just decided to come out to this place for no reason." She sighed.

"I had a fight with a good friend of mine. I may have completely destroyed our friendship, and I was trying to find somewhere I could be alone and let my regret and guilt hit me full force. We both went too far; but I was absolutely in the wrong concerning the argument."

Scorch looked away shamefully. "I brought up the one person he couldn't save, the one person that he failed to keep from dying, and it wasn't even his fault. I don't know if I can ever make it up to him, but I sure as hell have to try."

Rook cocked his head curiously. "I'm sure that he'll find it in him to forgive you."

She raised an eyebrow in doubt. "And what makes you say that?"

He fidgeted slightly. "In my experience, I've found that forgiveness comes a lot more easily when genuine remorse and regret is involved. An apology is never quite as effective unless there's sincerity to it. You seem to be kicking yourself pretty hard, and I'm sure he realizes it." Her eyes widened slightly, seeing that he was more familiar with relationships than he'd let on.

"Really?"

He nodded. "I mean, I've been cast aside from society for my whole life, treated like nothing but something to be taken advantage of by everyone I meet."

"What does that prove?"

"Well, I'm sitting here talking with you, right?"

She was taken aback. He looked down. "Organics have done nothing but rebuke me, and yet I saw someone who was willing to take a stand for me. I could have thrown it back in your face… but I'm of the opinion that everyone deserves a second chance." He gestured to the bar around them. "These people are angry at Exos because they don't understand us, because they think that we're nothing except unfeeling machines. But I'm willing to give anyone a second chance when they show that they feel regret for their wrongdoings." He gestured at Scorch.

"Your friend was angry with you because he probably thought that you didn't care about what you said, and had no remorse. It's pretty obvious to me that you do, and I think you just need to prove that to him." He sat back in his chair, and Scorch remarked inwardly once again at how deceptively wise Rook was.

Looking down, she saw that she'd finished her drink. There was no real point in sticking around since she had a feeling that the bartender was going to be quite reluctant to get her a refill, but she didn't want to leave Rook alone; no doubt as soon as she left, the bartender would throw the Exo out into the cold. An idea struck her.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." His eyes widened.

"What, out into the cold?"

She shook her head. "I just doubt that the bartender is gonna let you stay after I leave, so I've got a different plan. You coming or not?"

Rook debated with himself for a moment before he hesitantly stood up to leave with her.

-X-

Her apartment door swung open with a creak. She stepped inside, Rook following behind tentatively.

"I was offered a place at the tower," explained Scorch as Spectre began to transmat her gear onto the floor, "but I kept my apartment in addition to my new room there. It was the first home I really earned on my own and I keep around for whenever I need to get away for a bit."

He looked around, taking it all in before she threw a blanket and pillow at him. "What is this?" he asked, confused at what she was doing. She pointed to one of the two large couches she had.

"I don't expect you want to sleep out in the cold, do you?" She saw his hands raising to protest, and immediately cut him off. "I'm serious, it's not a big deal. I'm gonna crash here on this one, so feel free to take either the bed or the other couch." She dragged her own blanket and pillow over to one of the couches, and laid down on it, pulling the sheets over her body.

Rook debated with himself for just a few seconds before coming to the understanding that he most likely wouldn't get an offer like this ever again, and he sat down on the couch that she'd indicated was free for him. He set his pillow behind his head, and let his head rest on it as he stared around the dark room.

"You know," he began, "I've never had one before."

"What," she mumbled jokingly, "a bed?"

"Well, yeah," he chuckled in response, "but I meant a friend. You're the first person who's ever stood up for me like that."

He turned to her, and purple eyes met hazel. "Thank you." Then, he turned away and fell silent, both of them falling asleep quickly from the events that had transpired that night.

-X-

 _The Acolyte scrambled away from his master, fearing punishment for bringing such tragic news. He did not realize that the master held no ill will towards him; he would not mercilessly butcher his own soldiers, he'd been trained better than that._

 _Instead, he turned to the great oversoul above and roared in fury to the void. His greatest apprentice, his protege; slaughtered by those filthy bags of flesh. And the crystal he'd tethered his soul to so long ago, his only current presence in the mortal realm- destroyed. Now, he had no way to forcefully bring himself back without help from the worms._

 _Having expended his anger, his chest heaved with exhilaration. He would not allow Omnigul's death to be in vain. When they came for him- and he knew they would come for him, what other reason would they have to target her and the crystal?- he would kill them all, stick them all upon the spit of his sword._

 _Crota would have his vengeance._


	34. ASIDE: GND Character Profiles!

Hey guys! How's it going? You all excited for the next chapter to be released, because I sure am! In fact, I'm writing it right now, but there's something cool I wanted to do for you guys first!

See, I've had a few people PM me before about the look of the characters in relation to how they would look in-game, namely what specific Exo face is Ash, and how Eager looks (probably because I found it hard to describe him when I first introduced him). I looked at those and thought, "Man, wouldn't it be cool to have a profile pic for each of the characters so that my readers know what they look like?"

Well, I went and did just that!

Spent about an hour yesterday going through the game's customization, taking screenshots and then another one editing them with cropping and cleaning them up. So now, I have a picture for each of the six main characters, as well as two bonus characters; Sara and Rook.

Also, you may notice a few hints for the future story in the descriptions and customization for each image. I'm not going to confirm or deny anything you guys throw at me, but I might help you out if any of you should come up with any particular theories (specifically a big one I'm thinking about)...

Anyway, here they are in an easy-to-view Imgur album!

 **imgur[dot com]/gallery/3gtD4**

(Obviously just write it regularly, I only have it this way because the filters here are ridiculously strict.)

Again, I'm not going to confirm any theories, but I certainly don't mind leading you in the right direction!

As for discussing your theories or just commenting on anything you like in general, go ahead and leave them in the reviews for this chapter! I make sure to read each and every one of them, so feel free! Happy collaborating!

\- Matteoarts


	35. Choices

Ash walked out of the infirmary, eager to get away from the doctors and all their rules at last. Plus, she'd undergone quite the night.

Her plating had been completely replaced all over her body. At first, it had just started with her torso. That had been necessary, lest she walk around with a gaping hole in her chest for a while. The new plating was made from carbon fiber rather than the more common steel alloys, making her significantly tougher and lighter than she'd been before.

But it was white with black accents and streaks, not white and silver like the rest of her body. And she'd felt a bit off with this new addition while the rest of her body was still the same. She'd reasoned that the other parts of her body were likely wearing away anyway from years of battle and strain too, and so had opted to just go ahead and have the rest of her body's plating replaced as well with the new carbon fiber material and paint scheme.

She still retained the same proportions as before save for being roughly two inches shorter shorter due to the density and strength of the new material not needing to be as thick to protect her; she had less bulky plating than she did before on her feet and legs, and so lost a tiny bit of height. She was fine with it however; the trade off had been worth it. Her body was sleeker than it had ever been, lighter and tougher, and the new paint scheme was actually pretty enticing to her, with the black streaks accentuating her otherwise white form perfectly. She felt that this was likely how organic women felt when they received a makeover or bought new clothes.

Even her face had been updated; no longer was it purely white and silver, but rather white and black. The metal of her mouth now had several black components to compliment her white, and a black plate sat in the center of her head, in stark contrast with the rest of her face. Intricate black designs were curved around too, surrounding the bottom of her outer eyes and flowing down her cheeks. She honestly felt refreshed; when she'd seen herself in the mirror, she'd felt- maybe not pretty, that was an odd word for her to describe herself as- but definitely new, improved. She was happy with her new height, weight, body, and face. All of it was great.

As soon as that thought had crossed her mind, she tripped on her own feet as she walked towards the hall where her quarters were. Blast it; she was going to have to get used to her new weight to height ratio unless she wanted to be tripping over everything.

She wasn't the only one either; she wondered how Matt and Aria would react to her new form. Especially Matt. Would he be surprised? Excited? She supposed that he'd find out in the morning, she was exhausted and just wanted some sleep at the moment.

Upon coming to both her own room and Matt's, she debated with herself over whether or not to enter his and crash there. She decided against it, reasoning that he was likely just as tired as she was; he'd come back later and sat with her until night had fallen and she'd told him to get some rest. He'd resisted of course, but she didn't want him exhausted on account of her so she'd sent him off. She would avoid waking him for right now, and walked into her own room.

Groaning, she pulled off the makeshift change of disposable clothes they'd given her while they operated. She'd have to grab her armor they'd taken tomorrow, and start looking for a replacement chest-piece now that her current one was completely destroyed. Once she was rid of the clothing, she looked over her nude form in the mirror.

Maybe nude was the wrong word to use; something felt off, like she was different. She dragged her finger across the surface of her chest, tracing the new black markings that adorned it, and eventually placing her hand on the breast of her chest where the damage had been before they'd fixed her. Being carbon fiber, it definitely felt slightly softer than the regular steel alloy it had been before, but she still felt the hard resistance.

That annoyed her, and the fact that it annoyed her in and of itself annoyed her. Why should she feel odd in her own body so suddenly? She felt comfortable, much less bulky than before, she was lighter, slimmer, what was wrong?

She looked down at her left arm, also sporting new black plates with interesting patterns etched upon them. On a hunch, she reached over with her free arm, and gently performed the proper procedure to remove the plate gently and carefully.

Upon removing the black plate, she saw what she expected to see; her basic machine-like skeleton within. An array of different mechanisms and machinery working together to assist in the movement of her arm; the metal cylindrical frame that acted as her 'bone' in the middle, different vein-like cables and tubes carrying her blue blood throughout her system to keep it running, and the intricate sheets of gel-like substance that were stuck to the inside of her exo-skeleton; neuro-sensors that allowed her to touch and feel like a human.

 _Like_ a human.

That was it, she now realized. She was uncomfortable because she'd finally seen herself exactly the way that everyone else saw her; as a complicated and highly sophisticated piece of machinery. But at the end of the day, it was just that- machinery. She'd always thought of herself to be more human than she actually was to some degree, but here was concrete proof to the opposite staring right back at her in the mirror. She didn't have the soft, delicate skin that humans did; hers was hard and durable. She didn't have the organic eyes that blinked because it was necessary; she had ones that lit up because of circuits powering them, and 'blinking' because that's how they were programmed. She had no genitals or real breasts, it was all just… metal.

 _She_ was just metal.

This was a real wake-up call for her. This was the real her; not a human, not any kind of organic; she was a machine. A complicated system of moving parts and circuits that worked together to help her function. All of her likeness to humans was due to the way that she'd originally been built, whenever that had been. If one were to strip her of all her plating and other parts, she would be an endo-skeleton frame at her core. The thought of that frightened her.

But then what did that say about her? She knew that Exos didn't have souls originally when they'd first been built by humanity, but rather had been gifted them by the Traveler. But was it truly a soul? Many humans believed in an afterlife of some kind. If she died, would she be able to enter it according to human beliefs? Did she qualify as a living creature? Or could she even _die_ as they did? Would she really just fade away from existence, her programming ceasing to be capable of working?

Where were all these thoughts coming from? She hadn't ever thought this deeply about herself, and she wondered what was so worrying to her in light of this revelation-

And then she found it. Of course it was Matt, as most things she was worried about concerned. He was human, she wasn't. How hadn't she seen this before? Or- had she already seen it, but pushed it out of her mind?

How would others see them? They'd been friends for nearly three years, but that didn't stop everyone else's views on the matter. Ash was no fool, and she knew perfectly well how people in the city saw Exos. What would they say if they knew? They'd probably accuse Matt of something wrong, seeking the company of a machine rather than an organic. And she'd be seen as nothing more than an object mimicking emotions and feelings, considering that they didn't think that Exos were capable of such things, let alone of having friendships, of... loving someone.

She quickly shoved that thought aside and scolded herself. _It's been three years; if he felt the same way about you, he would have said something. Just let it go._

She may be one of the Heroes, but that's all; people saw her as a team member that was made to do her job and expect nothing more, certainly not to have a personal life of her own.

And what did Matt think of her? That thought stung as it crossed her mind. Did he see her as she was, or just as a human with the body of a machine? Nothing of hers was actually human; her soul, her true self apart from her physical body, was complicated; all Exos minds had been based off different human minds, volunteers to give imprints of their brains but not quite; they had acted simply as examples that Exo systems had used to adapt to human behavior from the supplied memories and neural networks. Then the Traveler had come, and actually allowed the Exos to live; they weren't just a system of coding and artificial intelligence any longer, they were living souls with different physical make-ups.

But try telling that to the city today; they wouldn't believe it if the evidence was smacking them right in the nose. As far as they were concerned, nobody could truly know if Exos had souls and feelings unless they were one, and humans were certainly not Exos. So they kept up their harsh and racist beliefs, forcing most Exos to take on the most ironic job; defending humanity and the very people that had prevented them from being accepted by society as normal.

"Ash?" Whip's synthetic voice startled her, and she immediately jerked away from the noise. He backed off for a moment, and then came closer once she saw it was him and had calmed herself. "Are you alright?"

She nodded numbly, the lie came easily enough. Whatever she was feeling, it was anything but okay. Perhaps she'd just had a revelation, or an epiphany, but one thing was for sure; she was shaken in the security and stability of the very fabric of her friendship with Matt.

-X-

Scorch awoke with a jolt, realizing that her head was hanging off the side of the couch at an awkward angle, and now she had a crick in her neck. Grunting, she pushed herself back up to her pillow, and cracked her neck to the left and right, hearing the vertebrae crackle loudly in an attempt to rid herself of the neck-pain. As she turned, she noticed that light was shining in through the window, a sure sign that it was late morning.

The events of the previous night were starting to come back to her, and she looked around for a sign of the maroon Exo from last night. Glancing over to the front door, she saw Rook slumped against the wall, watching her.

"It's about time," he muttered. She looked from him to where he'd gone to sleep last night confusedly.

"What are you doing all the way over there?"

He shrugged. "I tried to leave. Didn't want to overstay my welcome. Unfortunately," he grumbled, "this guy here wouldn't let me. Said that you wouldn't stand for it." He pointed to the air on his right where Spectre materialized a moment later. The Ghost faced her and bent his sides downward, the equivalent of a shrug for him.

"What can I say? I figured you wouldn't want him to leave without saying good-bye properly."

She raised an eyebrow at Rook. "Well, he's right. I wouldn't think that's how _friends_ would treat one another." She emphasized the term he'd used for them last night, and he seemed surprised that she agreed with it so loosely. She smirked at his reaction.

"C'mon, stand up." She beckoned for him to get off the floor as she stood up and walked over to her room. He waited outside for her to return.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she replied as she walked back out, "I just wanted to change out of those clothes." Indeed, she had similar garments on, but not the same ones she'd worn the night before; new jacket and pants, but she still wore the same fingerless gloves as she had yesterday. "Alright, let's go."

"Go?"

She nodded. "I want to get out for a bit, take a walk or something. You alright with that? Or are you trying to take off early?"

At this, the Exo's jawline set tight, but he said nothing. She ignored it, and continued on to walk out the door. He came out a moment after she did, and she locked the door.

-X-

"Okay, so what's with the name?"

Scorch turned to Rook at his question. They were walking down the block, their feet crunching on the thin layer of snow that had settled upon the ground over the course of the night while they maintained several discussions with one another. He shrugged. "What? You've got to admit it's a weird name, I highly doubt it's your real one."

Without saying a word, she pointed to her left cheek. His eyes widened for a moment before he planted his face into his hand. "Okay, I probably should have guessed that one," he grumbled as she laughed.

"Yeah, I mean it's not like it was literally staring you in the face," she joked.

"Alright, it was a dumb question. But then how'd you get it?"

Her joking tone disappeared as memories started to resurface. He saw the change in her expression, and immediately tried to rectify his mistake. "Hey, if it's too personal, don't worry about it! I was just-"

"No, it's fine." She sighed deeply. "I was a kid during the battle for the Traveler. I had to watch as the city was destroyed and the Darkness's forces swept in, killing everything in their path. My family turned out to be one of those things, and they were killed right in front of me by a pack of Fallen." _Slaughtered_ was probably a more accurate term, but she didn't want to open that door of specificities.

"One of the Captains had a Scorch cannon, and by some miracle I managed to dodge at the last moment. It still grazed me though," she said pointing to her scar, "and cauterized the flesh. I just decided to start going by 'Scorch' once I was living on the streets because a badass scar and name can earn you more respect than you'd think." She chuckled slightly.

Rook was silent for a few moments as they walked, before finally turning his purple eyes to her and saying softly, "I'm sorry about that. I'd say you probably had it worse than me, or any Exo I know for that matter."

She shook her head. "Nah, at least I'm not discriminated against everywhere I go."

"But you lost everything!" he argued, articulating his points with random hand movements. "You had a home, a family, and you lost it all and then were thrown into a life you had no idea of how to deal with!" He shuddered. "At least I've been this way for all my life; I had years to adapt and learn how to survive out here. And I never had a family or anything to lose either."

"I have a new family, though." She smiled at him and his shocked reaction to the insanity she was uttering. "I've got Dawn and Eager, as well as Matt, Ash, Aria… we're always there for each other." She looked down. "Or, at least they're always there for me." She smirked at him. "So no, I'd say that you have it much worse than I do."

This time, he also chuckled. "Oh, I know that. I was only referring to your childhood; it's more than apparent that you're much better off than I am now." The nonchalant way with which he'd said something so serious raised alarm bells in her head. How did he treat all of this so normally?

Suddenly, his eyes grew wide. "Duck!"

When she hesitated, he grabbed behind her shoulders and pushed her down as a glass bottle came flying from somewhere off to the left, accompanied by a gleeful shout. It smashed against the side of the building next to them, sending glass shards in every which way. Scorch looked back up to see two men in ratty clothes across the street, turning around and running now that their targets weren't off their guard.

She waved her fist at them while yelling, "Why, you-!"

But Rook pulled her arm back down. "Don't, it's not worth it."

She shook her head. "How do you all deal with this? I knew it was bad, but not _this_ bad. Why don't the Vanguards do anything about this?"

"I'm sure they'd love to, but you said it yourself last night; they're busy protecting all of humanity. Who has the time to go around and help _every_ Exo in the city?" He shook his head at the thought. "I don't blame them at all for this; if they had the opportunity to, I'm sure they'd take it in an instant."

Scorch considered this; maybe Rook was right. She was especially sure that Cayde wouldn't let the rest of his race go on like this without good reason. Then another idea struck her.

"Hey, you want to come to the tower?"

He stopped walking for a second, registering what she'd just asked. "What?"

"Seriously. Do you want to see the tower?"

He narrowed his eyes suddenly, his mood performing a complete turnaround. "Why are you doing all of this?"

The question threw her off guard. "What do you mean?" She raised an eyebrow in confusion, clueless as to why he was asking.

"I mean, why are you doing all of this; you stood up for me last night, you offered me a place to sleep, and now you want me to go with you to the tower. What's up with you?" This sudden suspicion was a curveball for her, she had no idea that he'd been feeling this way at all.

"People don't just come down here and immediately set to work righting all the world's wrongs," he continued, "or else the racism issue would have been solved long ago. Is there some particular reason you're doing this? Something personal to you perhaps?"

Was there? She thought hard; why had she suddenly been going against her long-since buried biases? She knew what she believed now, her two best friends and fireteam members were both Exos, what was the issue?

Her thoughts eventually trailed to Cayde. His own plight and problems that he'd dealt with, and his revelation of how people would see Matt and Ash's friendship. Was she doing all of this because she was trying to invalidate her own beliefs, to fight for her friends in her own way?

He saw the questions she was asking herself behind her eyes, and came to the conclusion he was right. "You said you don't believe in Exos not having emotion because you've seen it up close; what did you mean by that? Do you know someone, a friend of yours that's dealing with these issues perhaps?"

Once again, she had to give credit where it was due; the Exo was wiser than he let others know. She sighed.

"Two of my fireteam companions are best friends, practically inseparable; one of them is human, the other is an Exo. And yeah, I'm sure they do deal with discrimination because of it." She waved her arm dismissively at him, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with our entire interaction." He crossed his arms. "See, this is how I'm looking at it; you used to have some prejudices against Exos, you said it yourself. Those prejudices seemed buried, but you find them coming back now that you see your friends so close with each other. In an effort to prove to yourself both that you're not racist and that you're in support of them, you see an Exo in need and use the guilty feelings inside you to go against the popular mindset of the city, help that Exo, and use those actions as evidence to justify that you're not racist."

She said nothing, realizing that he'd hit the nail pretty much on the head. He rolled his eyes and summarized it all with another line, "So basically I'm just a metaphor for your friends' relationship, and the only reason you helped me was because of the guilty feelings you were having."

"No, that's not-"

"That's not it? Tell me, do you think you would have been so willing to go this far if that wasn't it? Maybe you still would have stood up for me in the bar, but would you have sat with me? Would you have offered me a place to stay, and now offered to take me there?" he asked as he jabbed a finger at the tower, seen far off in the distance. "I was just a stranger, not a friend; so why all the help?"

She couldn't respond, trying to sort through her own feelings and thoughts. Was it true? She wanted to think that it wasn't, but something that he was saying was ringing true with her.

He sighed heavily, seeing the stress he was putting her through. "Look, maybe you are someone who would just do those things out of the kindness of your heart, but I've seen a lot of people over my years, and I've never seen anyone like that. So forgive me for being a bit cynical."

He thought for a moment, and then looked her in the eye. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. You're gonna head back to your friends, and you're gonna take care of all the issues between you and them. Once that's done, go ahead and think over what I've said. If you still think that our… interaction isn't just based on feelings of guilt, then come find me." He pulled the hood of his jacket up, and nodded in her direction before he began to walk away.

"Wait!" she called out, "where are you going? How will I know where you are?"

"I'm not making it easy," he called back, "you can figure it out when you have the chance. Like I said, if you're truly motivated then you'll be able to find me. But give it a few days thought first, hmm?" With that, he turned down an alleyway and disappeared from sight.

Scorch watched the spot where he'd just vanished from view as though expecting him to reappear. Not only had he accused her of being friendly only because of her inner shame, but he might have been right. And now he was gone, leaving her to mull over her choices.

This was not a good week for her friendships.

-X-

Matt jolted out of bed, his arm already swinging defensively with his fingers curled tightly around the hilt of the knife he kept hidden under his pillow. He'd been shaken from sleep by some unknown entity, and was now in a combat state of mind.

"Slow down there, unless you want to send me right back into the infirmary after I just got out."

He recognized the female voice to belong to Ash, and his eyes quickly adjusted to the light in his room. She was standing in front of him with her arms crossed, a smirk playing across her face at his wild behavior.

PTSD was a real bitch to deal with, but at least they could make some light of it in situations like these. Now he was just standing around in the dirty clothes he'd slept in last night, a knife in his hand like a psychotic idiot. He threw it back under his pillow while Seraph woke up from the commotion.

"Despite what it may have looked like, that was not my intention," he joked lightly. "Now, what's-" Suddenly, her face caught his eye.

"Whoa. That's… new." She immediately knew he was referring to the black markings and plating on her head, and she nodded.

"Yeah. They were just going to replace the plating on my chest, but I asked if they could do it for the rest of my form as well. For all intents and purposes, I have a completely different body." She looked down, gesturing to her form. "No more steel alloys, it's all carbon fiber; lighter, stronger-"

"Shorter?" he asked, and moved over next to her. Whereas she'd been not quite as tall as him before, she now stood even lower and it was certainly noticeable. The top of her head only came up to his eyebrows now, and she was wearing shoes to help.

She shrugged. "The carbon fiber is denser, meaning I don't have to have as thick of plating on my feet and legs to have the same protection. Without that thickness of the material, I lost a lot of weight but also a few inches. It's not a big deal."

"Wow, the black works really well with your white," Matt commented, tracing the artistic highlights on her cheek. "Beautiful work; I'd love to see how amazing the rest of your body looks." He winked slyly as he made such a comment, referencing the very first time he'd ever met her; he'd been trying to inspect an Exo's machinery, and hadn't any idea how embarrassed she'd be at someone seeing her 'naked'.

Usually, she would have laughed along with him, but her eyes suddenly seemed to appear downcast. "Hey?" He tried to get her to look at him. "Everything alright with you?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine; I just had a long night, and I'd rather not talk about my body right now. You said you had a contact or someone you needed to talk to last night?" He saw through the lie easily, but did not tell her; the trick to finding out what was wrong would be to let things progress, and if she wanted to come forward with whatever it was, then she would. But he had a feeling it had something to do with her new changes; she didn't want to talk about her body. Why?

"Matt?" She waved a hand in front of his face, trying to grab his attention. He cleared his thoughts, and smiled at her.

"Yeah, I have something planned. I just have to make sure it didn't fall through. Let me change into some clean clothes."

-X-

Eager nodded his head at the report before him. Now that Omnigul's forces had breached the city's boundaries, he'd been sending scouts out to report on enemy movements ever day. Luckily, the case seemed to be that without their general, most of the hive were reluctant to organize any kind of offensive. This was providing a bit of a respite for the Vanguards to plan and strengthen their defenses around the city.

He turned to leave his office and hand over the report to the Vanguards, but he jerked backwards when he was startled by the sudden appearance of a familiar Hunter looming over his shoulder.

"Goddamn it, Matt! Can't Hunters ever just say something like, 'I'm here!' rather than trying to scare the crap out of people to announce their presence?"

Matt smirked. "Sorry, afraid I can't do that. It's almost an occupational requirement." He looked to the left and right to make sure they were alone. "Hey, you know what I asked you about yesterday?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Eager, waving his hand at Matt dismissively. "I'll have it taken care of while you two are out. But that's it, I can't be providing anything else for you."

Matt nodded his appreciation. "Thanks, Eager. I owe you one."

Eager shrugged. "It's the least I can do, man. I know that you and Scorch are in a bit of a rough patch right now," he muttered, "but that doesn't mean that I can't be on good terms with you, right?"

Matt smiled. "You got that right. I'll see you later."

Eager gave a flick of his wrist in Matt's direction, and then walked past him to continue his objective in delivering the scouts' report. Matt waited a few seconds, and then followed after him.

The offices of the task force were down a few levels in the tower, and had to be reached by elevator. He grabbed the next lift up to the courtyard, and waited to reach his destination. He had a big day planned for him and Ash; he was going to take advantage of the break that Cayde had ordered him to take.

Once he reached the top level, he made his way over to the railing where he'd asked Ash to wait for him. She turned when she heard his shoes brushing against the grass behind her. "There you are! I was beginning to wonder if you were ever coming back up."

She wore clothing to match his own casual style today; a tan jacket, black pants, and her regular boots. Her eyes were watching him intently, trying to figure out exactly what he'd been doing. It was funny how much information he could gather just from watching those blue eyes of hers.

He shrugged nonchalantly, playing it off like there was no big deal. "Sorry. Anyway, we should be good to go."

"Go? Go where?"

"Well," he began, "the Vanguards ordered me to take a break from any missions for a while, at least until you're completely recovered and good to go."

She smirked. "So, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking a break from any missions for a while."

She gasped in mock-surprise. "Who are you, and what have you done with Matt?!"

He rolled his eyes with a light smile on his face. "I know, I know. Incredible, right?"

"More like, 'never thought it'd happen in a million years'," she laughed. "So, where are we going then?"

"Just down into the city. Walk around and talk, grab something to eat, you name it." He looked over at her. "You and I are going to have some quality time. Someone else can cover the hard stuff for once."

She looked surprised. Maybe she hadn't thought that he'd do all of this just for her? No, it was more than that. Probably the same thing that had been bugging her earlier.

As they set off for the hangar to grab their ship, he could only hope that the rest of today went smoothly.


	36. Clarity

_A/N: For any of you familiar with the song, "Clarity", you'll have a good idea of what's coming in this chapter. Happy reading!_

* * *

Aria wasn't very well accustomed with being patient.

As one of the youngest of her friends and fireteam members, second only to Scorch, it meant that she had quite the "up-and-at-'em" attitude towards anything that she came across; that involved quests, missions, pretty much anything.

Unfortunately, "up-an-at-'em" and boredom did not go hand in hand very well.

Matt and Ash were her primary source of entertainment, but they had disappeared somewhere; so she was sitting around in the grassy courtyard of the tower, levitating rocks around in front of her.

Levitating. Rocks.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

A particularly interesting detail came into her mind, however, when she spied Scorch walking out from the elevators, and descending the balcony staircase to the general courtyard below. Dropping the rocks without hesitation, Aria began to walk towards the Hunter.

Upon further inspection, she became slightly concerned. The girl's face looked saddened, dejected. What happened here? Was she feeling the guilt of her earlier actions? _Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on her yesterday,_ she thought to herself.

Scorch noticed the Warlock coming over as she walked. A forced smile came over her face, one that she could tell Aria didn't buy for a second. "Hey. What's up?"

Aria crossed her arms. "Alright, spill it. You know it's gonna be better for you to get it over with rather than dragging it out; I'll have an answer out of you anyway."

There was no arguing there; Aria was probably one of the most ridiculously determined people around when she was motivated enough. Scorch sighed.

"I messed up big time."

She began to explain to the Awoken girl about how she'd felt horrible about the fight with Matt; about how she'd tried to come to terms with her actions down in the bar. She told her about how she met Rook, and stood up for him when no one else did; but that perhaps her subconscious motives hadn't been completely altruistic. She revealed how he'd later accused her of just trying to rationalize her own biases and feelings with Matt and Ash by helping him, and how he'd left shortly after that. When she finished, she looked over at the Warlock for guidance.

Aria seemed nonplussed. "Well… geez, that's a lot to take in."

Scorch let out a sad sort of chuckle. "Yeah, that's one way of putting it."

"Still," Aria continued, "like you said; you messed up, yeah. But now you're trying to fix it, and that's all that matters."

"How is that all that matters?" Scorch rounded on her. "I was a brat, I hurt Matt, and now I may have turned yet another person away from me!" She looked down at her fingerless-gloved hands. "Maybe you guys were right about me; maybe I'm just not cut out for being a leader. Maybe not for being a Guardian at all."

Silence fell over the two of them. Aria thought of what words she could say to fix this.

"Look, nobody's saying you're not cut out to be a leader or a Guardian. We're just saying you need a bit of time to learn the skills necessary." She pointed at herself. "I'm probably one of the youngest Guardians around, and it's only because I dreamt of becoming one for years, spending hours studying at a time. I'm the exception though; as we've proven, it doesn't take a specific set of assets to make a Guardian." Scorch's eyes lifted a tiny bit.

"Ash was a pile of scrap in the outskirts when she was revived and became a Guardian. Matt was dead for centuries; neither of them had any knowledge about any of this life." She laughed now. "In fact, Matt's only the leader because we fell into a pattern; there was no decision or anything, it just happened. Really think that there's a test to be a leader or something now?"

Scorch interjected, "Yeah, but still. Look at how you guys turned out; you were only Guardians for a few months when you took out the Black Garden and fought in the battle for the Traveler."

Aria countered, "Yeah, and your team was made only a few weeks before you took on the Vault of Glass. Maybe you had help from us at the end, but the rest of it was all you guys. That was _your_ feat." She could see the young Hunter mulling that over in her head, and decided to follow up.

"What I'm saying is, we're all unique in our own ways; there's no specific skill set required to be a Guardian. You take what you know what you can do, and you adapt. You in particular… you just need to find your own flow that works for you."

Scorch said nothing, still listening.

"You're a child of light; not just _a_ child of light, but _the_ child of light, meant to bring about the Balance. Your very soul was created by the Traveler for a reason; I'd say that's more of a qualifier for you to be a Guardian." Scorch's eyes widened, and she turned to see Aria smiling at her.

"You know, we're almost the same age now; but I remember the first conversation we had, when you were just a kid. You remember what I said, right?"

Scorch nodded. "To be brave."

Aria patted her shoulder. "Well, this is one of those times. You need to be brave here; just be patient, and I'm sure your chance will come soon."

They sat like that for a few minutes, comfortable in the peace and quiet as they watched the other Guardians mill about the tower. Then Aria groaned. "Ugh, Matt and Ash are rubbing off on me. I'm not ready to be mature yet."

Scorch laughed.

-X-

"I'm serious! I didn't notice it as much before, but-"

"I swear, keep it up and-"

"You just stick out so much! I can't help but point it out!"

Ash looked up to see Matt's hand hovering above her head, indicating her new height and how much shorter she was now. Laughing, she shoved away from her and off to the side. Stumbling back to regain his balance, he joined in her laughter as she playfully punched his shoulder.

"Not cool," she tried to say with an angry-sounding tone, but her smile gave away her true intentions. He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Okay, I won't do it anymore!" She rolled her eyes, knowing that the statement was utterly farce; he'd probably be back at it in just a bit. Matt looked at her with a grin stretching across his features, and she knew perfectly well that she was right on the mark.

"Sooo," she began, stressing the 'o' syllable and dragging it out, "where exactly are we headed?"

"Anywhere you want to," he replied easily. "Like I said, this is just an easy day. What comes to mind for you?"

She thought about that one. So he was letting her have the choice of where they went. Alright. "How about we just stroll around the streets? See if anything catches our fancy?"

He nodded his agreement, and they set off. Every so often, she'd point out an item of interest and they'd investigate. Ash had to be honest; coming down here was pretty cool. She never really took the time to visit the city much, and instead spent her time at the tower or on various missions with Matt and Aria. She didn't often get to see the normalcies of everyday life for the people of the city; once a place on the brink of extinction, society had prevailed with capitalism and various other economics. Vendors sold food and other products, a few basic stores and restaurants were scattered around. Not many, but enough. They spent hours walking around the city, just taking it all in and enjoying each other's company.

She thought back to the first restaurant that the three of them had eaten at a few years ago, and wondered if it was still around. Maybe not; a lot of damage had been dealt in the battle for the Traveler downtown, so there was a good chance that it had been demolished that day. The thought of that made her a little sad; that they'd never be able to relive those memories from long ago.

"It's definitely interesting to say the least, isn't it?" The sound of Matt's voice dragged her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see his eyes looking in her direction though his head remained facing forward. "To see everyone in the city with such… normal lives. We fight everyday for humanity's survival, but we don't often consider what the people we're saving are actually doing. And here it is, right in front of us." She detected a slight tinge of longing in his voice; longing for a time he knew where everyone was still alive, where humanity wasn't at risk, where he was free from having to be a constant protector. A time… without her.

She didn't blame him for still retaining a small part of him that wished things were the way they'd once been; that didn't mean that the thought of it didn't hurt slightly. She couldn't imagine life without Aria and him, it would be so painfully drab. Did he think the same of them, or would he be able to live without them if it meant that all of what humanity had gone through could be reversed?

She felt the strongest of urges; an urge to tell him, to just come clean with her feelings, no matter how wrong they may have seemed to the rest of the city. She wanted to pull him into a hug and not let go, to even simply hold his hand-

 _Stop_. She heard her own voice attempting to reel her back in. _You can't tell him. Not only does he not share your feelings, but think of all the hate that would be thrown at you two. It's a lost cause, there's no point in trying to make it work._

That was the most painful part; that she knew the logical thing was what her mind was telling her, but she still didn't want to listen. She may have been a being of metal and machinery, but all she wanted to do was follow her heart.

But something else began tugging on the edge of her mind. She set her confusing thoughts aside for a moment, and looked at their surroundings as they walked. There were several civilians standing around, gawking at her and Matt. Some of them seemed merely shocked, while others seemed to harbor more malicious intent. She spied a group of Exos leaning against a wall a ways away; all of them were in awe of the spectacle before them; an Exo and human walking together side by side.

Had they been wearing Guardian garb, nobody would have batted an eye; but it was because they were out of uniform and blatantly being friendly with one another that drew everyone's attention. The Exos were surprised at the fact that a human didn't mind the presence of an Exo, and the humans and Awoken were shocked that the Exo was being treated as an equal.

"Matt… " she whispered, but he just nodded briskly and leaned towards her slightly.

"I already noticed. There's a guy coming up behind you now; let me take care of it." She could have taken care of it herself, but was a little intrigued as to what Matt was going to do.

They continued walking. The seconds ticked by.

Without warning, Matt spun around with the reflexes of a snake and let his arm shoot past Ash's head. She turned to see what was going on.

Matt's hand had caught the downward arc of a man's descending fist as it had been traveling towards Ash. The man was shocked at the fact that the Hunter had detected him, but even more so that he'd had been able to stop the attack. Matt threw the arm away angrily, and let the man take a few steps backwards.

"If you're looking for an easy fight, you're not gonna find it here. This is your only warning to all of you," he called, gesturing to the many angry faces around them; "Don't even think about laying a finger on her, or you'll be answering to me." Normally, this crowd of people in the city were used to dealing with scuffles and weren't particularly frightened at the prospect of violence. But there was something in his tone that told them to stay away; he meant business. After a few more seconds of a held gaze, most of them turned away and continued with their business.

"C'mon," Matt muttered, and he set off with her trailing closely behind him.

"What? I can handle that, don't worry about it," she tried to assure him, but he shook his head.

"You don't need to deal with that, it's not right. Besides," he said, and this time a smile came over his face, "it's almost nightfall. I've got a surprise waiting." Curious of what was going on here exactly, she allowed him to lead her back towards the tower.

-X-

"Okay, what's the big surprise?"

"Just be patient."

Ash gave a small huff. Matt had taken her back up to the courtyard, and they sat in the grass. Both of them were still casually dressed, and she wasn't quite yet used to the feeling. Most cases, she was either in her armor or her black undersuit; she wasn't accustomed to dressing normally like humans did.

It was now night, and darkness was descending upon the city pretty fast. Little points of light turned on one by one until all of the city was lit up as the people entered night life. A few lights around them switched on as well to help Guardians walk around, mostly those that were returning from missions beyond.

"Patient for what?" she asked. She waved around them. "I don't know about you, but I don't see-"

"Attention." A voice interrupted her, one that came from the tower's PA system. She stopped talking, and listened as it continued, "The courtyard has been closed off for scheduled task force use. Thank you for your cooperation; it will be open again in roughly an hour." She spied a few Guardians walking away, grumbling slightly as they all made their way towards their rooms. She began to stand up.

"Didn't you hear that? C'mon, let's-"

But Matt grabbed her arm, and pulled her back down next to him on the grass. "Don't worry; that's for us." He winked at her.

She stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"I told you, I had a surprise. I wanted to set something up with Eager; usually, I'd go to the outskirts if I wanted to do this, but you're still recovering so we're sticking around here. Don't fret though, we'll be able to see fine in just a moment."

Without further explanation, he laid flat with his back against the ground. She wanted to know more, but she could tell that he wanted to surprise her. Resigned to the situation, she laid down next to him and waited for what he wanted to show her.

"See what?"

"Well, in the outskirts there aren't any lights. It's easier, keeps them from getting obscured. It's a bit more difficult here, but I think Eager found a solution."

Both of them stared up into the sky as silence descended around them. It was so peaceful; the wind made slight nosies as it whispered throughout the courtyard, but aside from that they were alone. No one else but her and her best friend out here. The clouds drifted overhead, vaguely illuminated by the lights of the city and the tower. It was all nice… but what exactly was it that Matt-

 _KER-CHUNK._

The loud noise startled Ash momentarily, until she recognized it as the sound of the generators powering down. Indeed, the lights had already switched off. What exactly was going on here? She turned back to-

Then she gasped at the sight above her.

The whole sky sparkled with the light of stars as far as the eye could see. Without the lights counteracting the natural light and hitting the clouds overhead, the stars had all become quite visible. It made her feel like the world was giant glass ball, and these beautiful pinpricks of light were plastered all over the face of it.

"Quite the sight, huh?" Matt chuckled at her awed reaction. She looked over at him with her jaw hanging open, still amazed at how incredible it all was.

"Most of the time when we're on the Javelin, we can't see them because either the sun is blocking out all their light, we're in warp-space, or we're just not paying attention to them. Down here though, lying on the grass with the breeze, alone…"

"It's perfect."

He looked at her as she said those simple words. He smiled kindly at her, then returned to his star-gazing. He still didn't grasp just how much this was affecting her; she was quite serious when she said it was perfect, she wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else if the world depended on it, which it often did.

"Some of the stars have shifted position ever so slightly since I was a kid… I'm sure that's normal when there's a few centuries' worth of time between then and now, but I can still point out some of the constellations." He raised his hand into the air and indicated a cluster of stars. "See those? They make up the Big Dipper. Kind of looks like a spoon if you follow the path correctly. I remember it was also called the Big Bear, but I don't see how anyone ever pulled a bear out of that."

He shifted his aim a bit. "Those three in a row there are Orion's belt. The two stars there are his shoulders; I remember he was always easiest to find in the winter, like now. Thank god that it rarely snows here in the city, or we'd be in a much colder position right now." He laughed again. "I'm sure this would be a lot less comfortable with a bunch of snow packed between our backs and the grass."

Over the next hour, he continued to show her the stars and explain the stories behind them; how Orion was stung by Scorpio, which is why they never appeared in the sky at the same time. How the north star had been used to navigate for primitive civilizations, not because it was the brightest star but because it fell almost perfectly in the northern direction without changing position very much.

It was one of those moments where he was opening up to anyone, a rare thing indeed; and it was to her that he was revealing all this. That alone meant the world to her.

Eventually, the talking died down and it was just the two of them laying there staring at the night sky. Time flew by, and soon Matt was looking at his wrist interface.

"Alright, our hour's almost up. Can't have Eager getting in trouble for abusing his task force privileges." He stood up, and extended a hand down to her which she gratefully accepted. As he helped her to her feet, she tripped over her own feet again; apparently she still needed to get used to her new proportions before heading into battle or anything. She fell into him, and he caught her easily.

"Whoa, easy there. You're supposed to be recovering, remember?" he teased. She looked up into his green eyes, her own electrical blue ones sparking with wonder.

All of her instincts were fighting her, but she didn't care. It was perfect; the cool breeze around them, a great day spent with one another, the stars shining down, and now here she was; literally in his arms. If there was a more perfect moment than right now, she didn't know what it would be.

 _The consequences-_

 _I don't care._

 _But think of how this could ruin everything! Do you really want to sacrifice everything just for the possibility of-_

 _God, yes._

Her two sides kept fighting each other; warring with one another over which was right when neither was. There was no longer any right or wrong, just choices. And it all came down to her. She just couldn't think straight; she knew that the smart thing was to let it go, but she was so sick of playing everything safe. She wanted nothing more than to nuzzle in closer to him, to wrap her arms around him, to finally tell him just how much…

 _I love you._

Matt stiffened suddenly. He still held her in his arms, but he distanced her slightly. "What?"

She was confused. "What?"

His eyes were wide with… she didn't know. Unease? Excitement? What had just happened?

"Did you just say 'I love you'?"

 _Oh shit._

She'd gone and done it. She'd just accidentally said her thoughts aloud, and now he knew. What had she just done? Probably thrown three years of friendship down the drain, because things weren't ever going to be the same again after that little stunt.

Silence fell as she refrained from answering him, hesitating; did she deny it? Accept it? How would he react? Then she realized that she'd taken too long, and it was just as good of a confirmation for him; he was too good at reading people and emotions. So she decided to deal with it the same we she'd dealt with it for the last three years, a way so very different from how she usually reacted to things; she shoved it all down and tried to hide.

"Forget it," she said quickly, averting her eyes. She didn't want him to see the embarrassment that was all too apparent in them. He seemed at a loss for words.

"Ash…?"

She shook her head. "No, don't worry about it. It's nothing really, the notion of it is ridiculous. I shouldn't have said anything." She released herself from Matt, and stepped back.

"Thank you for the great night. I'm just sorry I had to go and ruin it."

"Wait, let's talk about this-"

She quickly set off at a brisk pace for her room. She was feeling a whole train wreck of emotions; shame from letting that slip up, anger at herself for potentially ruining their friendship, and just a bit of hurt at how Matt had reacted. He hadn't done anything negative per se; but she couldn't help the small bit of disappointment that wormed its way through her, disappointment that the situation hadn't played out as she wished it had.


	37. Conflicting Messages

\- 9 Days Later -

* * *

"Okay," began Cayde while clapping his hands together, "let's get this show on the road."

Both the Heroes and Seekers stood next to each other in the Hall of Guardians near Shaxx's station. Cayde walked from one end of their single file line to the other, pacing while he explained their new mission. The other Vanguards and Eris stood slightly behind him.

"So far, you all have done a good job; the soul-crystal of Crota's has been destroyed, and we've managed to stop Omnigul from getting Eris's… rock… orb… thing." He looked over at her. "Speaking of which, are you ever gonna explain exactly what that thing is?"

The other Hunter gave no reply except for one of her signature icy glares. Cayde was unfazed however, and simply rolled his eyes.

"Okay, well that's a no. In any matter, it's like I said; you've bought some time. Time to prepare, to stave off the coming of Crota. And now we've got a plan of attack, a plan to strike him before he gets any stronger and thinks of another way into our world." At this, he exhaled slowly. "Basically, we're gonna try exactly what Eris and her team did."

There was an audible silence for a moment before Dawn piped up, "Excuse me for saying this, but that plan didn't seem to work so well for them. No offense, Eris."

"There is a difference." Eric crept slowly towards them with that creepy gait she was all too well known for. "I have knowledge of the inner workings of Crota's realm. When I last followed my companions into the pit, we were fools; ignorant and unknowing of the horrors below. But you will know, and you will be prepared."

Cayde shrugged apologetically to the Guardians before him. "Sorry, but that's the best we can do; we don't have much more time to think of anything else. We wouldn't ask anyone else to do this, but you six are very… well…" He struggled to come up with the proper words until he finally found an accurate way to describe them.

"Let me put it this way; there are fireteams that have been around longer than both of your teams years combined; teams that are more experienced, that act more like well-oiled machines than people. You've all got your problems and unique interactions with one another, but whenever you guys get involved…"

He took a deep breath. "…Mountains move. You manage to hold up the sky, and all the rest of that metaphorical crap. My point is, there's something about you all that makes us very comfortable with assigning you all this mission."

Matt knew exactly what Cayde was talking about; despite their short time as a team, he, Ash, and Aria had managed to uncover one of the Darkness's biggest plots against the Traveler and put a stop to it. Call it luck, fate, or destiny; but he knew that they were meant to do things like this.

He looked over at Ash, and couldn't help but wonder (not for the first time in the last week or so) if perhaps they were also meant for more.

 _I love you._

The words kept playing over and over in his head, like a broken record. He still couldn't believe that she'd had feelings for him all this time. How had he never seen it, never even suspected? She was his best friend for God's sake.

That night, he'd gone to bed completely shaken; not out of fear, but just because it seemed like way too many things were happening; his very perception of his relationship with Ash had changed.

Was it not that he hadn't noticed, but had rather ignored it? And for that reason would he do that, hide his own feelings? In all the time that he'd been thinking since then, there was only one reason he could think of that stood out from the others he'd thought of.

 _She's an Exo._

Did he have anything against Exos? Absolutely not. There wasn't anything about him that was worried about being a racist, it was just the concept of being in a relationship with one. He'd never even considered the existence of such a thing, let alone the possibility of himself being in a relationship like that. It was a foreign idea to him, but obviously Ash had thought about it.

He knew how Exos were seen in the city; how would a relationship like that be seen? He had many fears, some of them for their own safety, of what would happen if something like that was ever seriously considered.

And to top it all off, he hadn't even been able to discuss it with Ash; he'd acted like an idiot for the first few days (a fact that Seraph had not gotten sick of reminding him of), and given her some space before realizing that she might make the assumption that he was avoiding her. He'd immediately tried to talk to her, only to find that she had indeed made that assumption, and was now avoiding _him_.

He didn't think she was angry at him in the slightest; no, he thought that she was hiding out of embarrassment. When it came to a force of opposition, Ash tended to be very up-front about things and tried to bash her way through it. But when that opposition was about feelings and emotions, she shut up and hid everything. She didn't want to be seen as someone who let feelings get to her, even though by hiding them and acting differently, she was only confirming that she did.

But the point remained that he had not gotten the chance to talk about it with her, or even to tell her that she didn't need to avoid him. She probably thought he was repulsed by her or something, and he felt like a moron for allowing that line of thinking to come to fruition.

Cayde looked them over again. "Now, I know you guys are two teams; but we all think that it would work best if there was a single leader for the operation. Just fewer conflicting orders and whatnot, you understand."

Both teams immediately understood that he was referring to Matt and Scorch, and they held their breaths collectively. Aria and Ash looked over at Matt while he faced straight ahead, and both Dawn and Eager glanced at Scorch while she followed Matt's example.

Cayde looked over at Scorch. "Scorch, would you mind doing the honors?"

The rest of the current members, Scorch included, seemed surprised except for Matt. He knew that had been coming, and the logic was perfect; from their previous track record, Matt would likely have an easier time listening to someone else given orders without fighting than Scorch would. Not to mention that he probably appeared a bit unstable from the last time he and she had interacted, which was their fight in the courtyard. She probably appeared to be the more level-headed of the two-

"With all due respect, no sir."

Now, even Matt was shocked. He looked over to find Scorch still staring straight ahead; she seemed confident in her answer.

"I have shown a lack of respect for what being a Guardian is all about, and I would like to admit that I believe I would be unfit to be leader of this squad." Finally, she looked over at him. "Matt has proven to be one of the best around for a reason, and I trust his judgement, as I always should have done."

Well. This was a new side of Scorch that he hand't seen.

Cayde and the other Vanguards seemed a bit taken aback, but he recovered quickly enough. "Alright, fair enough. Matt, would you accept the responsibility?"

Silently, he nodded. Cayde nodded in return to show his approval. "Alright then. Glad we've got that sorted out; let's all head over to the table and we'll explain the stages of the raid."

-X-

Never before had the Javelin been so devoid of sound and chatter than it was now as it flew through warp-space to the moon. Aria didn't know what had happened, but she could tell something was up. She had a good feel for emotions and reading the situation.

Matt struggled to remember any time when things had been this awkward between him and Ash; the closest he could remember was in their first year as Guardians when she'd doubted his and Aria's safety after finding out that she had once been the Warrior, and temporarily quit the fireteam.

Even then, at least she spoke to him; it was curt and professional rather than friendly, but at least there was interaction. There hadn't even been so much as a greeting in the last week or so. So now the three of them were just sitting there, staring out the viewport when they'd usually talk or something instead.

But now, he and Ash were stuck in the same place for a few minutes at the least; maybe he could make something of that.

"So," he began, throwing a cautious glance to the side where Ash was sitting. Already, he could see her body tensing up from just that little conversation starter. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"I thought that maybe it's been long enough to the point where maybe we can talk about… _things_ with each other, and-"

"Stop."

She was shaking her head ever so slightly, but he wasn't about to give up quite yet.

"No, hear me out; I haven't gotten the chance to talk to you about it because you've been avoiding me. The least you can do is humor me a bit and discuss this with me like an adult."

She groaned, but she finally turned to face him. Her expression clearly said, _I don't want to talk about this_ , but what other option did they have if they wanted to move forward?

"Look, I already told you; forget it. It was a ridiculous idea to begin with, and I just couldn't see it because I saw what I wanted to see."

Now he shook his head. "I don't want to start throwing labels around until we've properly thought this through. And I can't forget it, nothing else has been on my mind for the last week! That's why I'm trying to talk about it now, so that we don't have it lingering over our heads constantly!

Aria called up cautiously, "Hey uh, if you guys are gonna fight or something, just try to keep it verbal, alright? I don't want a wild super or something to blow out the cockpit of the ship."

He rolled his eyes, "Not helping."

"Okay, you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright then, shoot. What is there to talk about?"

He furrowed his eyebrows in consternation. "What do you mean? There's everything to talk about!"

"Like?"

"Like the fact that you've been avoiding me! Why have you been doing that?"

She exhaled softly. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, I just needed to clear my head a bit afterwards, to line up my thoughts. But I'm fine now; like I said, I came to a realization. It was a silly thought."

"No it wasn't!"

She scoffed. "It wasn't?"

"No!"

"Really? You must not be thinking things through properly then."

Now he was taken aback; she, who had opened up to him the possibilities, was now trying to fight against the idea. What had gotten into her?

"Okay now you've lost me."

"In what way?"

" _You_ were the one who opened up to _me_ about this first; why are you fighting it so much now?"

"Because as I said; there are way more problems than I originally realized, and the very concept of… _that,_ is a stupid one."

He threw his hands up into the air exasperatedly. She gave a big huff of annoyance herself while Aria watched everything play out from behind them.

"I don't know what you're so frustrated about; I mean, from your initial reaction I would imagine you'd be grateful at how I've handled this so far-"

"Did you mean what you said? About how you feel?"

She stared at him. "About it being a stupid idea? Yes, I-"

"For God's sake, do you love me? Yes or no?"

"Holy SHIT, you said what?!"

"Shut it!" Ash snapped, her gaze locking onto Aria in an effort to silence her. For the first time since Matt could remember, the Titan's intimidation actually worked on the Warlock; there was a dangerous glint in those blue eyes of hers, and Aria knew when to back down from a fight.

Ash maintained their silent stare-off for a moment longer before turning back to the viewport. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I thought I did, but I'm not sure anymore. Not because anything's changed, but because I'm not entirely sure if I possess the physical capability to."

"…What?"

She shook her head. "I'm done talking about this. Besides, you've got some more pressing matters to plan out as leader if this operation is going to go smoothly."

"Ash, don't-"

"I said I'm _done_ talking."

Defeated, he slumped against the his chair's backrest and resigned to looking out at the blue lights of warp-space as they passed. Eventually, Whip's voice came through their radio.

" _30 seconds to Luna."_

* * *

 _A/N: Hey guys. I realize that this is probably one of the shortest chapters I've written for this story, and I'm sorry about that, but there's good reason for it. The way this story is heading, I needed this scene to be able to kind of stand on its own; but that leaves me in a bit of a predicament, because if it's too short then I have an issue, but if it's too long then it's just dragging on. I tried to find the best balance I could, but here we are._

 _In addition, I'm actually moving to college and I probably won't be able to update for a while as I'm going to be looking for a new job and trying to settle in. I wanted to at least get this chapter out to you guys before that happened, so once again; here we are._

 _As always, PLEASE review this story; I love seeing your guys' thoughts on each chapter, it really motivates me with the next ones afterwards! They might not seem like much, but it really does mean a lot to me._

 _Until the next time!_

 _-Matteoarts_


	38. The Mouth of Hell

Scorch peered over the edge of the Hellmouth, where greenish gas and sheer depth hid the bottom from sight thousands of feet below. She whistled.

"Gah, don't do that. It gets all squeaky in the transition over the comms," Eager complained. She obliged, making note to do it to him later instead, at a time when everybody wasn't on edge. She turned over to where the rest of the team was preparing.

"So, you guys have already been here before, right?" she asked, her question directed at the Heroes.

Aria turned towards her. "Yeah. The first time we came, we actually climbed down the side of that pit. Almost had a nasty accident, too." At this remark, Ash looked sharply over at the Warlock. Scorch decided not to pursue the topic; obviously, it was a bit touchy.

Aria sat next to Dawn and Eager, biding time until the all-clear was given from Matt. Scorch was doing the same, just separate from the others; he was currently preoccupied with checking gear along with Ash. Things seemed off between them for sure; usually inseparable, they'd said hardly three words to each other since they'd gotten here. She wondered what the deal was.

"You ready for this?" Matt muttered. He was inspecting the slide of his weapon, making sure that the Hawkmoon was in good working order.

Ash was silent for just a moment before returning a stiff nod. "Yeah, I'll be fine." She gave a very slight chuckle, and he could detect the faint trace of a smile in her voice. "It's funny; the first time we came into this pit, you saved me from falling. But now, we're jumping headfirst into it." She glanced over at him, her huge visor depolarizing and allowing him to see her face; he'd been right, there was the ghost of a smirk there. "Looks like I was gonna fall in there either way; we only put it off for a few years."

He returned her smile, though he hadn't depolarized his visor; he remained unseen. After a moment, she depolarized, and went back to looking over her rifle. After one final check, she looked back up to him and nodded; she was good to go. He acknowledged it, and turned to the rest of the group.

"Alright, form up." The other four quickly hurried to where Ash and Matt stood near the edge. He glanced over at Scorch. "Get the shard."

She nodded, and looked to her left hand which she'd left hanging in the air, palm-up. Spectre appeared and materialized a greenish-gray shard; the chunk of crystal that they'd taken from Crota's soul crystal.

* * *

 _Eris looked at them as they gathered around the map she'd drawn up. "This is the Hellmouth," she stated, pointing to a large circle drawn in the center of the map. "Normally it's nothing more than a pit; but for Ascendant Hive, it can act as a gateway." She looked up at all of them. "A portal to Crota's throne world."_

" _What's a throne world?" asked Eager. She glared at him, annoyed._

" _Do you ever stop asking questions?"_

 _He shrugged._

 _She muttered angrily, then looked back to the map. "You will not be able to access its secrets unless you are Ascendant; and that's where the whisper of Crota's soul is needed." She raised the shard of soul-crystal. "This will trick the Hellmouth into thinking you are Ascendant, and will allow you entry."_

* * *

She handed the crystal to Matt. He nodded gratefully, took a deep breath, and threw it as far toward the center of the pit as he could. It began to arc down, eventually falling into the gaseous vapor below. Nothing happened for a moment; until a pulse of green light emanated from down below and spread back toward the mouth. Where once was nothing, a bridge began to form; cracked and weathered, it glowed with an unnatural hue; much like something that had been raised from the dead.

After roughly a minute of the odd spectacle, everything ceased to form. The bridge appeared to be complete, and it led to a ring-like platform in the center, hanging over the Hellmouth precariously. No one seemed to want to take the first step, so Matt inhaled deeply, let it out, and began walking forward with determination in his step. Not even a second later, everyone else followed suit; they understood that this was a team, and they were gonna do this together.

They marched across the bridge until they reached the ring; the hole in its floor was roughly a mater across, big enough for one person at a time. Streaks of lights or sparks seemed to fall away vertically from it, hinting at the power it held. Again, Matt decided to take the first risk.

"Wait for a few moments after, and then you can jump. We don't need to hit each other on the way down." With one last turn to the rest of the group, his gaze hesitating for just a moment longer on Ash, he jumped in. They tracked his progress down for a few seconds, until he was enveloped in light and dematerialized from view.

No one said a word.

Scorch shrugged. "Well, here goes nothing." And she promptly jumped in too, with the same results from Matt's drop reoccurring.

After she was gone, they seemed to be a bit more eager to jump. Aria followed Scorch, then came Dawn, Eager, and finally Ash was left.

She stood alone on the ring, contemplating her next move. She was terrified for sure; but this was something she had to do. Tensing herself up after what had seemed like an eternity but what likely less than five seconds, she jumped after her friends.

She saw the same pinpricks of light surrounding her as it had done the others. Little sparks surrounding her, until the walls of the Hellmouth around her were replaced with pitch blackness. She still felt the sensation of free fall; obviously this went a lot deeper than expected.

"Can anyone hear me?" she called over the comms.

She struggled to hear a response from Eager; " _Barely. We just seem to keep falling, and it doesn't look like…"_ His voice faded out to white noise as she lost connection.

"Hello? Eager?" Silence once again reigned over the comms, and she resigned to staring around her, hoping to spot even one thing besides the darkness around her.

"- _STERS!"_ the comms suddenly screamed at her. She jolted in shock, but quickly regained her composure.

"Hello?! What's going-"

" _USE YOUR THRUSTERS, NOW!"_

Without a second to waste, she triggered her armor's thrusters to slow her descent. All to quickly, she saw what they'd been referring to. A small circle of light far beneath her illuminated four individuals standing there, and the shadow of another falling towards them. Eager landed finally, and she saw that she was falling far too fast.

"Hold on Ash, I'm diverting all system power to the thrusters!" came Whip's voice from inside her head. She began to slow even more, but it wasn't more than a second or two before she felt the ground rushing up to meet her. She rolled and skidded a few feet to the side, coming to rest on her back.

"Ouch…" she groaned. Whip had slowed them enough to stop any serious damage, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt. Her legs ached the most, having just taken the brunt of all her momentum. Her back came in at a close second, but it was definitely her legs she was focused on.

She heard the sound of footsteps approaching her, and saw Aria's helmet enter her line of sight. The Warlock extended a hand to her, one that Ash grasped and used to pull herself up to her feet. "You good?"

"Yeah," the Titan replied, "I'm good. How are the others?"

Aria shrugged. "Dawn probably got off the easiest. Eager and I are fine. Matt and Scorch are over there, they had it the worst."

Ash looked to where she was pointing, and felt a small pang as she saw Matt lying on the ground near one of the lamps, his back resting against a rock while he recuperated. Scorch was barely five feet from him, and seemed to be in the same position, if just slightly better off.

She walked over to them, feeling a bit more reassured when she saw Matt's head stir at the sound of her footsteps.

"Are you two alright? What happened?"

He grunted. "Wasn't expecting to have to fall like that again." She shuddered slightly, remembering the first time he'd fallen from such a height; it had ended with him dead, crushed and speared by the debris from both the Traveler and several Hive ships. That wasn't a picture she wanted to think of right now.

"I realized that if I didn't do something quick, I was gonna end up in several pieces upon impact. Still feel a bit jealous that you guys get thrusters in your armor…" He shook his head. "Anyway, I had Seraph divert all of my shielding to underneath me, create kind of a cushion. It worked, but I'll be damned if I didn't break something."

He pointed at Scorch. "I had Seraph immediately tell her to do the same thing, and even used my own light to help out with the shielding. Didn't help much, but it was something." Scorch's head turned slightly at the mention of her, and though she remained silent, she gave a thumbs up in their direction to show her appreciation.

"Why didn't you just let yourselves be resurrected?" inquired Dawn from somewhere behind Ash. "I remember that we had Scorch do that when we were trekking through the Vault of Glass."

Matt pointed to the ground.

Ash looked down. Rising from the ground were wispy little tendrils of black vapor, trailing from splotches of goo that coated the stones they stood on. She recognized it as the same material that had covered the sword she'd been run through with. She subconsciously brought a hand up to her chest region.

Matt nodded. "That's right. There are no resurrections down here; we're all back to the good ol' days of only having one life." Remembering how close to death she herself had come, she could only imagine how magnified that danger was down here.

"To add onto things, it's even taking its toll on us." Ash looked to see Seraph materialize in front of Matt. There was a definite droop in the Ghost's voice, and her light wasn't ad bright as it normally was. "It's wearing us down; we were born from the Traveler, and this much pure darkness around here is not beneficial."

"Point is, we're operational." He waved Ash away. "We'll get up in a minute or so. Why don't you check out our surroundings, make sure we're in the right place."

She nodded, and began to make a general observation.

* * *

" _When you take the plunge, you will find yourself in the first trial of Crota's throne world. There is nothing but decay and shadow there, filled with Thrall that have long since abandoned their respective Wizards; they remain untethered, wallowing in the filth and grime, ready to strike at a moment's notice. The lanterns will be your only hope; used by the other Hive to keep them in check, they are the only fear that those senile Thrall still retain."_

 _Eris waved her hand at a crudely drawn path. "I may have been a prisoner there for years, but there is only so much that I could recall when everything is shrouded in darkness. This is the best estimate of the path you need to take to escape from there, and proceed to the next trial."_

* * *

Ash nodded and reported back. "Certainly looks like what she was talking about. I can't see ten feet in front of us past these lamps." She pointed. "There's a path that extends that way. Looks like it's the only way forward."

"Alright." Matt groaned in pain as he began to stand back up. "Let's do this."

At his word, everyone tensed up again. From what Eris had told them, this place was home to Thrall unlike ones they'd seen before; usually humans raised from the dead and imbued with Darkness from Wizards, these ones had been left to their own devices for far too long. They'd evolved, adapted, become the stuff of nightmares. Indeed, both fireteams could already hear the screeches of them in the distance, echoing off the walls. Like teeth, grinding against metal.

Matt checked his hand cannon, ensuring that it was properly loaded once more. Satisfied, he turned to the rest of the group that had lined up on either side of him; Scorch immediately to his left followed by Dawn and Eager, and Ash and Aria on his right.

"Those lanterns are gonna light up as soon as we enter their proximity," he repeated, them all having gone over the plan beforehand; he just wanted to make sure they had it fresh in their minds. "It'll give us a minute of respite, but only a minute. They weren't intended for long term use. Take advantage of it and reload, then get moving again."

They were silent, but all nodded almost imperceptibly. He gave a deep exhale, then faced forward.

"Go!"

All six began sprinting forward, the sounds of their boots hitting the ground being the only sound for the first few seconds. Then a scream sounded, then another, until finally there was nothing but the yowls of the Thrall all around. Glowing yellow splotches began to appear in the Darkness, only to be revealed as the heads of Thrall that had adapted their vision to be more efficient in the dark.

Gunfire began to increase in volume, as though it were trying to match the screams. Ash fired her rifle into a throng of them off to their right, reducing their numbers to less threatening ones. Eager was almost running backwards, as he unloaded his magazine into some Thrall that were trying to approach them from the rear. One managed to leap onto Dawn, and she continued to run with them all while she was trying to pull it off of her and pummel its skull in.

And as soon as it had started, the wave ended. Light began to shine from the lantern in front of them, the first one they'd reached. Matt let several rounds loose, trying to lower the count of the swarm around them before he reloaded. "Acknowledge when you're ready!"

Slowly, green lights began to wink on in his HUD, representing each member of the team that was ready to go. Dawn pulled the corpse of the Thrall she'd killed off of her once and for all, and then her light appeared as well.

"Alright, go!"

Once again, the pounding of their legs against the moisture slicked stone path filled the air, accompanied by the terrible sounds of the Thrall. Teeth and claws came to tear them open once more, and it took every ounce of situational awareness and effort they had to keep them away. By the time they'd reached the second lantern, they were all exhausted.

"Come on, we've more of these to go! We can't tire out now!" Despite their obvious condition, they knew he was right; besides, if they slowed down, they would die. There was no way out other than forward. Green lights winked on once again. "Go!"

And so the cycle continued up to eight more times. Run, kill, reload, repeat. Eventually, they began to feel as if there was nothing but the chase anymore; the constant hunt of the Thrall tracking them down, waiting for just one mishap to strike. They came close a few times, but they finally reached a hill, scrambling up it just to continue running.

"Look!" shouted Eager. Panting, the rest of them turned to where he indicated; a small circle of light surrounded by rocky outcrops. It was situated near the edge of a cliff; one side hanging over where they'd been progressing since they'd entered, and one side hanging into oblivion, no sign of ground beneath it. Across the way of the second cliff was a massive door, closed and withholding the secrets it kept inside from them.

"Get in the circle!" ordered Matt, and with newfound energy they all followed his lead. The reaction was immediate; the door across the gap began to open, white light pouring out of it. A bridge began to form much in the same way as before, creating a path to the door across the gap.

"Get in defensive formations!" he shouted. "We have to defend this area until we can make it across!"

"How is this working?" yelled Dawn as she ran to a small bit of cover behind a mini boulder.

"It thinks we're Ascendant Hive, remember?" he replied. "It's just following what it's been created to do!"

Aria and Scorch were a bit farther forward than the others, acting as the first line of defense for the others. "Well, it better do it faster!" Aria yelled angrily as she mowed down a group of Thralls. "We aren't gonna be able to hold out here much longer!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake just a bit, and Ash peeked over the top of the rock she was taking cover behind. "Heads up, we got Knights and Ogres inbound!"

There was always something to make a situation worse, Matt thought to himself. "Alright, Eager pull back a bit, you're exposed! Everyone else, hold your-"

And then everything went to hell.

Knights began coming over the hill into view, chaperoning the Thrall which hurled themselves over at the Guardians, risking death to even have just a slim chance of tearing them apart. They flooded the area, and no more coordination was had; the small plateau had become nothing less than a war zone.

" _I've got a Knight on me!"_

" _THEY'RE ALL OVER!"_

" _Just hold still! I'm trying to pull it off of you-"_

" _I can't, it's sinking its claws into my- AGGHH!"_

" _SHIT!"_

" _Eager, to your right!"_

" _I see it, don't-"_

" _EAGER!"_

" _SOMEONE TAKE CARE OF THIS KNIGHT!"_

Chaos was quickly championing over the battlefield. Blasts of purple beams were now trailing overhead as well, a gift from the incoming Ogres.

Suddenly, Matt heard a loud slamming noise. He ducked under the sword that had been swung at him, and jammed the Hawkmoon into the Knight's mouth before pulling the trigger. Wasting no time, he looked over at the source of the noise which was revealed to be the door; it had finished opening and the bridge was complete.

"GUARDIANS, THE DOOR IS OPEN! LET'S MOVE!"

Someone ran past him, and he saw a green light appear in his HUD. One across to safety. Matt remained at their end of the bridge, stopping any Hive from getting through while clearing a path for the remaining Guardians.

Two more ran past, one of them wearing Titan armor. Two more green lights.

A large purple blast appeared twenty feet to his left, and as he looked at it he saw Aria vaulting over a rock from that direction, and running past him. One more.

Suddenly, the fifth light winked red.

Without hesitating, he looked around wildly for the fifth Guardian. "There!" came Seraph's voice, directing him straight ahead and to the left about thirty feet. As he ran, Thralls began to pop from gunfire; his teammates across and in the middle of the bridge were covering him.

Finally, he found them. Scorch was wrestling with a Thrall while it scrabbled and claws at her. The Last Word lay just out of her reach.

Drawing his foot back, he brought all of his momentum into a kick that nearly tore the papery skin of the Thrall in half; it flew a good two meters away, and did not move.

"Come on!" he yelled, tossing her weapon to her. She wasted no time following him, but they'd barely made it ten feet before they realized that the Ogres had made it to the bridge. One turned upon noticing them, and roared and swung a massive fist.

Scorch felt herself get shoved aside, and narrowly avoided the blow. Unfortunately, she saw that Matt was not so lucky. He went sailing through the air over to the cliff on the left side of their plateau. The Ogre was about to make a second attempt before she emptied all of her rounds into its eye. The spongey organ exploded, and the Ogre stumbled off in pain.

She sprinted over to where Matt was rolling on the ground, right about to go off the edge. She dove forward, and slid just enough to catch his wrist as he fell over the side. Now, he was dangling over a large drop into the darkness below.

"Come on!" I've got you!" she grunted with exertion. Despite what she said, she wasn't strong enough to lift him. Matt felt her pulling, but she definitely wasn't gonna be able to do it, and there was nothing for him to grab; he had no way to even pull himself up. He acted quickly.

"Guys, I'm putting Scorch in charge of this mission! Wait for her to get across, and then get out of here!"

" _What'd he just say?!"_

" _What the hell is going on over there?!"_

He looked up at Scorch who seemed horrified by what he'd just said. "You need to get out of here, you're only wasting more time for yourself and them."

"No, this is not happening!"

"Look, I'll make my way back if I can, alright? But right now, you need to be there for them!" They both knew he was lying; there was no way that a lone person could live through what they'd just gone through.

"I know you can do it, Scorch. This is your chance; prove that I was wrong about you!"

And with that, he jerked himself out of her grip and fell into the fog below.

She didn't cry out, and she didn't falter. She did exactly what he told her to; it was the least she could do, to take care of both fireteams in his absence. And she wasn't going to let him down.

She weaved through he Thrall, and tossed a smoke grenade off to her left, impeding the progress of a Knight. She hopped over a Thrall that had stopped to face her, and she was on the bridge.

"Get over here!" yelled Eager, waving his arm to beckon her. She complied, and continued running as they covered her exit.

Ash grabbed her as she ran past. "Where's Matt?!" she asked hysterically.

Scorch shook her head. "I know what you're thinking right now, but we can't afford to stay here! We need to move, NOW!"

Ash yanked her arm away from Scorch as if the Hunter had just become burning hot to the touch. The other Guardians around them continued to fight, but they just stared at one another.

Finally, Scorch tore her gaze away and gave the order she wished she didn't have to give; "Everyone, move! We're leaving!"

No one said anything, but they all knew what each other was thinking. Slowly but surely, they backed away until they began to run through the white-lit corridor, filled with grave-like stones that stood as a monument to those who had fallen.

They couldn't help but wonder if perhaps one more would be added to the collection.


	39. Crota's End

Cautiously, Eager removed various vision filters for his optics as they adjusted to the dim light in such contrast to the blinding whiteness they'd just run through a few moments ago.

"Everyone, acknowledge?" asked Scorch. He knew she was trying to take a head count, so he quickly flashed his green light on his HUD. Four other green lights appeared next to his.

One of them did not. Rather than flashing green or red, it simply stayed gray. He got a sickening feeling from seeing that.

"Where are we?" he heard Dawn ask from off to his left. Looking out at their surroundings, he saw that they were in a vast void-scape; they were standing on one side of a large chasm, a castle-like structure situated on both their side and the opposite one. But outside of those facilities and their mountainous foundations, there was nothing but greenish black space for as far as the eye could see.

* * *

 _Eris turned to everyone._

" _After the first trial, you will finally arrive in Crota's throne world. Your second test will determine whether you are worthy enough to face Crota; should your champion best the gatekeeper, you will be granted access to Crota's sanctuary. Only there, in his throne world, will he be truly vulnerable."_

" _Champion?" asked Eager._

 _She looked like she was about to bite his head off, but then realized halfway through that it was a valid question. "Yes. Only one of you may face the gatekeeper. The others must channel their light into them, and pray that their support helps tip the scales in your favor."_

* * *

"I think we're in that 'throne-world' Eris was talking about," he replied. "Maybe-"

"First thing's first," Scorch interrupted. "Ghosts, I want all three of you to scan for a signal from Seraph and Matt. Try to find anything you can."

Whip, Echo, and Spectre all expanded into their spherical forms, and began pulsating on different frequencies to find any trace of their friends.

Nothing but static played through them.

"I'm sorry, but… Guardians are tied to their Ghosts, and if we can't raise a signal from Seraph then… I don't know what else to do." Echo muttered.

Whip sighed deeply. "There are plenty of reasons why we can't get a signal from them; we're too far away, the signal is getting corrupted, too much interference, et cetera. There's gotta be a better explanation than… you know."

Spectre said nothing. He already knew what they were all thinking, there was no reason for him to voice it aloud. Silently, they turned to look at someone who had separated from the group.

Ash stood away from the rest of them, hugging herself in a protective posture. Not a word was said, but everyone understood just how much impact this was having on her. They'd seen how badly Matt had freaked out when Ash had been injured; how was she going to react with the grim circumstances surrounding her best friend? They couldn't afford to have her mind straying from the mission right now.

Eager heard Scorch sigh next to him. "We can't dwell on it. He's survived worse things-"

"No he hasn't."

Ash's interruption caught them off guard, but Scorch refused to let this stop them. "Look, the best thing we can do right now is to finish the mission. I doubt that Matt would have wanted any of us to come this far and then stop for his sake. He would want us to rub it right in Crota's face, to show him that-"

"-that Guardians never die," whispered Ash. Scorch was taken aback. "He said that once- that we never die, not really. That we live on in our friends' hearts, as legends."

She turned to the Hunter. "What's our next move?"

Scorch nodded appreciatively. Truthfully, she wanted nothing more than to hand off leadership to someone else right now; she wanted to break down just as much as Ash wanted to, felt broken like everyone probably felt right now. But that wouldn't help them; clear thinking would.

"We need a champion, remember? Someone to challenge the gatekeeper across the chasm. Any takers?"

Dawn was gung-ho, but even she looked a bit unsettled at the prospect. Scorch was too busy leading the team and trying to hold everyone together, Ash was emotionally broken, Aria looked like she was trying to comfort Ash ever so slightly, which left-

"Ah, hell."

A roar sounded behind them. All five Guardians turned to look at the source of the noise, a Knight-shaped hive with angry orange scars criss-crossing its form, like lava was cracking it from the inside. It held a sword in one hand.

"Better get that sword, Eager. 'Cause you're going across."

-X-

Groaning, Matt lifted his head off the ground.

He had been face down on the hard rock before he'd stirred. Everything around him was shrouded in darkness and shadow. He could hear the distant screeches of Thralls in the gloom, and his heartbeat began to increase in pace.

"Seraph, w-what's the damage?"

He waited for an answer but received none. Slowly, he raised himself up with his arms, and then sat down.

"Seraph? Re… report."

Again, no answer. Now worried, he held open a hand and allowed the Ghost to materialize in it. Silently, the chassis of Seraph fell into it.

"Seraph?!"

He raised her up to his helmet's visor to see better. The blue light of her eye was barely visible, faintly flickering. He remembered how she'd talked about the Ghosts being affected by the pure Darkness down here. She wasn't going to die, but he was totally alone down here. No friends, no Ghost…

No one.

He was beginning to grasp just how much strength Eris had if she survived this for years, and he felt newfound respect for her. With a flick of his hand, he allowed Seraph to dematerialize back into him.

He attempted to stand, only for pain to blossom all across his chest. Gingerly, he felt around with his hands. Yup, a broken rib from the fall. Why was he always the one getting hurt on these missions?

Suddenly, another one of those Thralls' screams pierced the air, setting his teeth on edge. That one was a bit closer. Could they smell him? He didn't want to find out.

As hurriedly as he could, he forced himself to his feet, ignoring the pain as much as he could. Holding his chest with one arm, he staggered forward and away from the cries of the insane Hive.

-X-

The sword bearer sank to its knees from its injuries, and then crumbled into dust. The only thing left behind was the massive sword it wielded.

Scorch looked at Eager. "Well? Go on."

He exhaled deeply. Stepping forward, he reached out to where it hovered just a foot above the ground, and grasped the handle. Immediately, a small whitish aura surrounded him, and a bridge appeared connecting their side of the chasm with the gatekeeper's.

Aria poked a hand at the odd bridge. Her hand phased right through it. "Looks like only the sword wielder can cross, at least until that gatekeeper is dead." She stepped backwards. "Have at it, Eager!"

He groaned. Across the gorge, he could already see the gatekeeper readying itself for the fight. He supposed that there was no time like the present, and much like Scorch would have, he proceeded to charge straight into the fray.

As soon as his foot left the bridge and touched the gatekeeper's side, it roared at him. He paid it no mind, and decided to take the first swing. It sidestepped, and he felt the blade cut through nothing but air. The gatekeeper followed up by attempting to stab straight down, but he rolled out of the way, and came back on his feet.

" _You've got this!"_ he heard Scorch say over the comms. He rolled his optics.

"Thanks, that's very reassuring." He barely had time to say that before another swipe from the gatekeeper forced him to either duck or be decapitated.

Opting for a different tactic, the gatekeeper turned the blade so that the flat of it faced Eager rather than the edge.

"Wait, really? Pretty sure you're supposed to use the sharp side there, buddy-"

The gatekeeper swung and hit Eager in full force, now that it had more surface area to hit him with. Eager felt himself fly backwards and tumble until he slammed into a wall near the closed door that eventually led to Crota's lair.

"Ouch… okay, maybe I need to stop running my mouth."

He felt the vibrations of the gatekeeper's footsteps as it approached him. Scrambling to get a better position, he just managed to upright himself before he dodge yet another swing of the sword.

This one, however, was different. Having been aiming for Eager's head, the sword was now embedded in the wall, stuck and immovable. The gatekeeper roared with frustration, but Eager didn't care; this was the opportunity he'd been waiting for.

Raising his own sword high above his head, he let it fall and felt it cleave through the arms of the gatekeeper as it gripped the handle of its weapon, trying to remove it from the wall. It roared with pain, but was quickly put down when he shoved the sword through its face next. Falling backwards onto its back, the blue-cracked Knight disintegrated as it impacted against the ground.

Suddenly, a distant rumbling could be heard, and Eager looked to see the massive doors slowly opening. The aura around the bridge had disappeared, and it looked like it had become fully solid now. The four Guardians across the gap quickly made their way over to him. The Hunter in front came up to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"See? Told you."

And with that, they entered.

-X-

He did not know how far he made it before he fell for the first time against the slick stone path, moving both hands to stop his sudden descent. The jolt it created for his rib could not be helped, and he once again forced himself to stand, grinding his teeth with determination.

He made a promise that he would find his way back. There was no way he was gonna break that if he had a choice. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how much of a choice he actually had, considering how tired he was getting. Running through this place with six people had been hard enough, but running through it alone and with a broken rib? This was probably suicide.

He tripped again, this time failing to stop himself completely, and he landed hard on his shoulder. Yelping a little, he once again tried to rise.

Which way was he even going? Was it the right direction, or was he just wandering in circles? He couldn't see in front of him at all without the lanterns, and his head was jumbled. He couldn't remember Eris's directions worth a damn if he tried. And all the while, those screams were getting closer…

He tripped for the third time, and didn't even try to stop himself as he crumpled to the ground and slammed his injured chest into the hard surface.

Oh, hell. Who was he kidding? He wasn't making it out of here. He scrunched his eyes up tight. Every fight he'd been in, whether it was against the Messenger in the core of the Traveler, or trying to stay sane in the Vault of Glass, it had always been about not giving up; about staying determined no matter what and persevering through it.

But this was the end of the line. He wasn't immortal, he knew that. He'd already died once, and that hand't been a pleasant experience. This time though, there wouldn't be any saving grace. There was no light here, nothing to save his soul from corruption. He would die, and then be resurrected later by a Wizard as some god-forsaken Thrall, doomed to haunt this place for the rest of his life. He'd never see his friends again, probably wouldn't even remember them, would never see Ash again, never tell her that she was wrong and that there could be a future for them, a future that he'd never get to experience now-

 _That's new. Funny, I never thought I'd experience anything different after so many… well._

He lifted his head, shaking from the effort. Who the hell was that? The voice sounded feminine, familiar. He just couldn't place it…

 _I guess it's a measure of your strength that in all my years, the one thing that I never saw you do was give up. Until now._

"Who are you?"

 _Alone, shivering in the dark._ The voice changed, becoming more sorrowful. _It hurts to see you like this._

He had no response. It's not like he had a set reaction for some entity suddenly appearing to him in his darkest hour.

 _Darkest hour? No. The worst is yet to come._ The voice sighed. _I wish it weren't the case; but here I am._

Suddenly, in the corner of his vision, he saw something light up in the distance. A little pinprick of blue, glowing in the darkness. He reached towards it with his hand, try to grasp any lifeline he could. Those screeches rebounded off the walls again.

 _Go._

He didn't need to be told twice. Gathering what strength he had, he made his way towards the light. He stumbled like a drunk, following the light like a moth to the flame. To be fair, it's not like he had any other hope than this.

He reached the light to see nothing but a small blue orb hovering in the air. He cautiously reached out to touch it, some odd force compelling him to do so…

His fingers had barely scraped it when it winked out of existence. He turned every which way, only to find that it had reappeared higher up above him somewhere, and had expanded its light to reveal a hill in front of him. Without hesitation, he began to scramble up it.

It took every ounce of strength he had, but he finally pulled himself to the top. Leaning against a large boulder, he watched as the blue orb did not disappear this time, but rather flew over to where he now saw the bridge that they'd built earlier was. It was still there, just waiting for someone to cross it. The only problem was, there were several Knights, an Ogre, and a horde of Thralls between him and it.

He almost thought about turning back, but hissing from behind him forced him to turn around. He saw that a large number of those crazed Thrall were at the bottom of the hill too, eager for a chance at him but kept at bay by the light of the blue orb.

"Did… did you just trap me?" he asked incredulously.

 _No. Had I not intervened, you would have given up. I just showed you the way out. Now, it is your choice. Will you still choose to die, or will you fight for your freedom?_

He thought back to what the voice had said earlier. It was true, he hadn't ever given up before, even when every odd had told him it was better to do so. He still had his determination in him, he just needed the voice to remind him of that. Still wished that he knew who it was.

Grinning, he pulled the Hawkmoon from its holster held it in his hand.

With that simple movement, the blue light disappeared, and the Thralls down below began to claw their way up the hill. Alerted by the screeches behind him, the Knights and Ogre ahead of him roared in anticipation of a new challenger.

It was alright; he was ready.

-X-

Scorch led the way as they walked through the long and massive hallway. More of those grave-like structures were here, and the group had grown silent with the all-too-real reminder of their likely dead friend. Ash stared straight ahead, refusing to show how she felt. Ironically, it was because of that action that everyone had a good idea of how she was feeling about now.

She thought back to the journey here, where Matt had tried to talk about what had happened with her on the Javelin. _I'm sorry. If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have shut you out._ She hoped he could hear her, wherever he was.

Had he meant what he'd said? That he really did think she was wrong to throw away that idea of… _them_ , so fast? Even if he had been, these events only solidified in her mind that she'd made the right choice. In their line of work, there was no point in forming personal attachments; they could be stolen away from you at any time.

All too soon, they came across a massive hole in the ground. Without talking, they all jumped down into a pool of black liquid below. It splashed, but did not stain their armor; rather they simply felt chilled to the bone as they stood in it. Hurrying to get out, they all stepped out and shivered involuntarily a few times.

Their bodies worked like a machine now; barely registering where they finally were. As they stepped outside into an arena of sorts, they could hardly process all of their emotions and exhaustion; the fear of the Thrall infested abyss, the pain of losing Matt, the walls they were putting up so that their grief didn't overtake them, and their triumphant spirits as they finally breached Crota's last stronghold.

"What the hell is _that?"_ groaned Eager, pointing at the massive orb hovering behind the arena a few miles away. It was massive, the size of a small moon. It looked like a black hole surrounded by the debris of a planet, like a shell. Red liquid-like substances floated by in the void, occasionally getting sucked into it like some creature slurping down a drink. It was disturbing to say the least.

"I think that's the Oversoul," muttered Aria. "I heard Eris talking about it towards the end of the plan, while you were too busy being afraid to ask any more questions." He snickered slightly. Even Ash felt a small dot of positivity in her at hearing that.

Suddenly, a swirling vortex of green gas and magic began to spin on the top pedestal in front of them, the center of attention of the arena. After a moment it stopped, and where there had been nothing now stood a massive Knight-looking entity. It was green and turquoise, glowing with unnatural light; as thought it weren't one solid being, but rather layers upon layers of one ghastly creature copied over one another.

"Is that…" Eager whispered.

Ash supplied the answer this time.

"Crota."


	40. The Dark Before Dawn

With one last gasp of air, Matt sunk to his knees and let himself splay out on the ground. Off in the distance, some large vortex-like orb was hovering in the void of this realm's 'sky', and he was probably no safer here than he'd been just a few moments ago, but he didn't care.

He'd made it.

Rolling onto his back hurt as it was covered in claw marks and scratches, but he managed it. He held up his left hand only to see that there wasn't anything but a bloodied stump there. Groaning, he dropped the Hawkmoon from his right hand, its silver casing stained with red blood and gore, and instead let Seraph materialize there.

Her chassis fell into his palm, and it only took a few moments for her blue light to begin strengthening in brightness now that they were far away from the suffocating Darkness of the abyss.

"…I… wha- what? Matt?"

He grinned, and waved at her with his left arm. The stump moved pathetically in front of her. "Hey, Seraph. Good to see you again."

"Oh my God! What happened to you?!" Immediately, she set to work scanning him and looking for any other injuries that might not have been as obvious. "All I remember is us falling, and then… nothing."

He sighed. "Probably best that you don't know. I wouldn't wish those kinds of memories upon anyone."

"And you managed to get through that horrific place by yourself?"

He debated whether or not to tell her about the mysterious voice he'd heard, and the blue lights. Maybe it had all been a hallucination, and hadn't happened at all. Or maybe there was something bigger at play here. Either way, he would wait until later. "Yeah, it wasn't too fun. Now would you mind lending me a hand here?"

She pulsed at his small joke. Hurriedly, she channeled what light she could into him, and he felt himself healing. When she finished, and he next looked back at himself, his armor had been repaired for the most part and he had two hands. He flexed his left one, testing it. That was good enough for him. "Thanks, Seraph."

"So, what's the plan?"

Out of the silence of the void came the sound of gunfire. Matt turned towards a castle-like structure on the opposite side of a chasm between it and his own position. He pointed in its direction.

"Something tells me we're going that way."

Seraph nodded knowingly. "Why would I expect any different?"

-X-

Ash swore as another blast from a Knight's cannon landed less than a meter from her, and she dove to the side to evade yet another blast before it blew her up. Above her, on the focal point of the arena, Crota roared in a way that just made her feel like he was mocking her efforts. She grunted, and began to run towards Eager to assist him.

They'd figured out pretty early on that the massive Hive prince wasn't affected much by their weapons, they just seemed to annoy him a bit. But there were more sword bearers here, and those swords DID seem to do some damage on him. There were just a few key issues, the first one being that the swords tended to break after a bit of hacking away at him. The second was that Crota was so freaking big, it was hard to come close without risking total obliteration from a swipe of his own sword.

Right now, Eager was just jumping down from the platform above where Crotastood, and cast aside the cracked blade in his hands. She dove into him and pinned him to the ground to save him from the blasts of energy she'd seen a wizard nearby casting at him. A sniper bullet tore through the air from one of the other members nearby, and the Wizard ceased to exist.

They both scrambled to their feet. "Thanks," he panted to her.

She looked around. "We'll get overrun by Thralls and Acolytes long before Crota kills us if we don't start clearing some of them out."

"I'm on it," he replied, and ran off to get a better vantage point. She gripped her scout rifle tightly, and ran in a different direction towards Dawn. The other Titan was near the top of one of the two sets of stairs, taking cover behind a makeshift barrier as part of the structure.

"How are you holding up?" she asked.

Dawn nodded her head to the side to point out something. "Just waiting on that sword bearer to go down so I can grab it." They'd all been grabbing the sword whenever able, and taking turns at slashing away at him. He definitely seemed to be tiring a bit, but the fight was taking its toll on them as well.

"I'll call it for you."

Dawn nodded, and Ash peeked around the side of the barrier to look where Scorch had just tethered another sword bearer. Once it had been trapped, she unleashed all of her ammunition from the Last Word into it, and it disintegrated to dust, leaving the sword behind.

"Go!"

Dawn wasted no time in hopping down, and sprinting over to the blade. Grabbing it as she ran, she used her thrusters to propel her up to the second level again, and made a beeline for Crota. Aria was keeping him busy by unloading her pulse rifle in his face, and he was too distracted to notice Dawn before she was next to him, and took a massive swing. The sword carved a chunk of bony armor away from Crota's right leg, and the Hive prince screamed in anger.

The Titan just barely made it down below before Crota's swiping reach nearly smacked her away. She fired as she ran, trying to lessen the crowd of Hive soldiers that clustered amongst the lower level.

Ash spoke over the comms, "Aria, you're up."

" _Got it!"_

She watched across the arena as the Warlock stopped firing long enough to hop down and help Scorch kill another sword bearer. Ash took over as the distracter and began pumping bullets into Crota. He retaliated by shooting beams of arc energy in her direction, and she was forced to take cover.

" _Alright, got the sword! Heading up!"_

Ash swore and moved herself back out of cover so that she could shoot Crota again. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Aria making her way towards him.

It was only for a second that she looked away, but it was enough. One of Crota's blasts caught her in her chest plate, and she was knocked onto her back. She held a hand over her chest, trying to stop the sensation of pain from taking over.

"I'm down, repeat, I'm down!" she called out. She turned back to look at Crota where he was laughing triumphantly-

His laughing immediately stopped as Aria's attack arrived, and cleaved through his leg altogether. Crota screamed in pain, and released his sword as he was knocked off balance and grasped his wounded appendage. The sword fell to the lower level, and skittered away a bit towards the entrance they'd all come from, lighting up green with dark power.

Aria swung again, fully intending to finish the Hive prince once and for all. The sword arced towards Crota's chest…

Suddenly, it came to a full stop as it met resistance in the form of Crota's hand. He had placed it in front, and caught the sword cleanly by the blade. Then he yanked it away from Aria, causing her to fly backwards towards Eager and crash into him.

" _AGH!"_

" _Oh, shit."_

" _What's going on?!"_

Ash heard the comm channels explode with chatter as Crota slowly maneuvered the new sword into his hand, and shockingly, began to speak to them.

 _ **YOU MURDERED MY APPRENTICE. YOU DESTROYED MY ANCHOR TO YOUR REALM. YOU HAVE HELD THE DARKNESS AT BAY FROM YOUR WORLD FOR TOO LONG, BUT NO MORE! I HAD WISHED TO STICK YOU ALL UPON THE BLADE OF MY OWN SWORD, BUT YOU GROVELING BAGS OF MEAT FROM THE LIGHT HAVE ENTERTAINED YOUR EXISTENCE FOR THE LAST TIME! DIE!**_

With that, Crota stabbed the sword into the plate beneath him, and an ominous green glow began to emanate from it. Suddenly, that same glow manifested itself in the center of the oversoul high above them. The entire arena was bathed in green, sickly light. The Hive soldiers everywhere began to dissolve, their dead forms unable to cope with the power of the oversoul.

 _ **THE OVERSOUL WILL REAP YOUR LIGHT, AND BEND ITS WILL TO MY OWN!**_

Ash cried out as she began to feel a prickly sensation all over her. It was like she was starting to melt inside her armor, like her body was trying to separate itself from her mind.

" _AAGGHH!"_

" _Make it stop!_

" _I… I can't… feel…"_

Slowly, Ash laid on her side. All she was left with was a view of Crota as the oversoul grew behind him like an evil sun, and the lower level where his sword lay, and where a figure approached it hastily.

Wait… a figure? She tried to think through the pain. They were all here, Eager and Aria were on the other side of the arena and Dawn and Scorch were down below on the ground from the effects of the oversoul. Who…

Crota looked down to his new challenger, and roared in fury at them. The Guardian bent down to pick up Crota's sword, green fire spreading over their form as they did so. The blade's power was dark, but the light of the Guardian repelled it, and it could not harm them as it covered their form. Then they looked back at Crota.

"Nice to meet you too." Matt grinned. "But it's gonna be even better to say goodbye."

He jumped, and blinked out of existence. Crota was momentarily confused until he reappeared right in front of the Hive prince, and slammed the sword with all his might into his chest.

The oversoul stopped in its tracks as its wielder stumbled backwards from the blow. Gooey black essence began to drip out of the crack in his body as Crota held a hand to his breast. He gave one final roar to the void, one final call for… something, before he crumbled into pieces and became no more than ash in the wind.

In an instant, the chaos ended. The oversoul was no longer active. The Hive were all dead. Crota was dust.

Everything was still.

Matt turned to look at the broken arena. Slowly, the other Guardians were making their way to their feet, and staring at him. He hopped down from Crota's pedestal, and remained on the lower level. They all began to approach him from their respective places, until all five were standing in front of him. No one said a word.

Matt noticed a prompt in the bottom corner of his HUD. It was the list of members who had acknowledged green since the last time that a ping had been sent out. His remained gray, and lifeless. With a small smile tugging on the corners of his lips, he switched his to green.

Eager laughed upon noticing, and stepped forward. "Man, is it good to see you." He extended his hand, and clasped Matt's hand heartily.

Matt chuckled back. "The feeling's mutual, Eager."

Scorch stared at him like she was seeing a ghost. "You survived that place? By yourself?"

He shrugged. "Yeah?"

"Holy shit," muttered Dawn.

Aria laughed and stepped forward to hug him lightly. "'Holy shit' is right, we're super glad you're not… y'know. Plus, you kind of saved all our asses right there. But a few moments earlier wouldn't have hurt."

"I'll try to be faster next time," he joked. Then, his gaze fell onto the one person who he'd focused on when he was in the dark, the one ray of hope that he'd had when he was down there in the pit.

Ash walked up to him cautiously. She didn't say anything, just stared. He waited for her to make the first move. Everyone else watched.

Suddenly, she moved forward and pulled him into a hug. He was shocked just for a moment, then reciprocated the action.

"I'm sorry…" he heard her whisper. He raised an eyebrow?

"What?"

"I pushed you away… and we tried to contact you and you didn't pick up, and I just- I didn't want to think that you had… that you were… and that I never fixed things between us before-"

"Hey, look at me." Her head lifted until they'd locked gazes. Both visors depolarized, and Ash was rewarded with a view of his signature smirk on his face. "I'm here. When we get back to the tower, we'll go out for a drink, how's that? Let it all out there."

She nodded, and then stepped back. Everyone remained silent until Matt clapped his hands together to get their attention. Then he looked down at his left one.

"Huh. Never thought that clapping would feel so good with both hands."

"What?"

"Anyway, what say we all get out of here?"

Scorch gave a satisfied exhalation. "Yes, please. If I ever see another Thrall, it will be too soon."

"How are we supposed to get out again?" asked Eager. Matt looked at him.

"Well, we needed to be Ascendant to enter this realm; only makes sense that we exit it that way too. We've got the Traveler as an anchor point to our realm, and by the way I'm able to hold this sword, I'm pretty sure that I count as Ascendant right now… why not test it out?"

Without waiting for anyone, he held the sword tightly and began to focus on returning home. Nothing happened for a few moments, but then the greenish glow that accompanied the Ascendant Hive began to emanate from the sword and washed over all of them. He focused on home, on all of his friends, and on how great that drink was gonna taste when they got back.

-X-

Rook watched as the rock he'd been throwing in the air to himself fell just out of his reach, and he sighed. It really wasn't that big of a deal to get up, but he was just so comfortable right now- or at least as comfortable as he could be while laying on a slab of broken concrete. He decided that he'd grab it later-

"Too lazy to pick up even a rock, huh? No wonder you're not employed anywhere; no work ethic."

He sat up properly at hearing the joking tone of someone nearby, and he looked over to where it had come from. Walking towards him under the large broken roof was none other than that Guardian that he'd met a few weeks ago. She was in civilian clothes, except for her boots which were still signature Hunter armor.

"Scorch?"

She smiled. "Just got back from helping save the world again."

He nodded. "You Guardians seem to have a knack for doing that. What was it this time?"

"A Hive prince that wanted to slaughter all of humanity."

"Oh yeah, I think I heard about that guy."

She chuckled. "Anyway, I got back and I realized that there was something I had to do. Didn't have time to fully change, so I apologize for the boots."

"How did you find me?"

"I may have _coerced_ an answer out of some other people." She looked around the broken down building. "All the way out here in Messenger's Fall, huh?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Nobody ever comes out here because there's nothing of worth; they left all these crumbled broken buildings around as a memorial of that battle. Figured that if I'm gonna be homeless, I might as well have a roof over my head."

She nodded. "Yeah. I know that mindset."

They sat in silence for a minute, unsure of how to proceed.

Scorch cleared her throat. "So, uh, look."

"Yeah?"

"I know how you said that I just was looking for rationalization before…"

"Yup."

"… but that isn't the case. I hope I'm proving that by being here."

He pretended to think. "That is true, you _did_ come and find me. I suppose that earns you a few points."

"I get why you were mad at me… and now that everything's been resolved, I want to ask for another chance."

"Another chance?"

"Yeah."

He laughed. "I was never really mad at you. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a pity friendship."

She shook her head. "No, it's not. I really do want to be your friend, Rook."

"Well, it's a welcome change from how people usually interact with me. Welcome to my fan club, Scorch."

"Happy to be here."

"I must warn you, it's a very small fan club. I'm not even a part of it."

"Ha!"

-X-

With a clink, Matt set his glass down on the counter.

They'd gotten back from the moon, told Eris and the Vanguards that Crota was dead, yada yada. People were happy, Guardians were celebrating, once again the Heroes and Seekers had returned victories. But he was bit tired of all that, and for once he wasn't going to join in the festivities. While Aria, Eager, and Dawn were all at the Tower with other Guardians, he was going to be having a drink with his best friend.

Much better way to spend the night in his opinion.

He looked over to his right where Ash was downing a beer as well.

"What does that even do for you?"

She shrugged. "I have to get fuel somehow. My body can turn pretty much anything into energy. But actual food tends to taste a bit better." She raised her glass up to her mouth again. "And I'm a bit partial to beer. Just can't get drunk."

He shook his head. "Getting drunk is one of the better perks. Means that you can forget things for a short while."

She looked pained for a split second.

"Was it that bad down there? Alone in the dark?"

He realized what she was referring to, and felt hairs raising on the back of his neck. "Yeah, yeah it was."

She nodded. "I'm glad that it was you then. I can't forget anything."

"Hmm?"

"I can't forget."

He narrowed his eyes. "Like, anything? It just-"

"Gets stored in my head, yeah."

"Wow. That's a lot of info over the last three years. Can you erase any of it? Maybe get rid of some bad memories."

She shook her head. "I could, but I'm not going to."

"Why?"

"Because if I did something like that, it would just cement the idea that I'm a machine even further."

And finally, the problem of what had been troubling her all those weeks ago was revealed.

He shook his head. "Hey, don't say that. You are _not_ a machine."

"Then what am I? I'm certainly not human."

"You're a person. You have a soul."

She laughed for a moment. "Ha, you always have the answers don't you?"

He looked at her seriously. "Why is this bothering you all of a sudden? I mean, it never seemed like it bothered you before."

She sighed. "When they fixed me up in the infirmary and replaced all my plating, it kind of made me realize that I've thought of myself as more human than I am all this time. But I'm not human; I can turn off my nerves, replace body parts, erase memories, the list goes on." She tapped her hand against her chest through the jacket she was wearing. "My body isn't made of muscle and blood, it's made of metal and circuits. I may have a soul, but that doesn't mean we're the same."

She took another swig of her drink. "No matter what I do, I'll only ever be _like_ a human."

He felt sympathetic, but he was still confused. "Still, why would any of that bother you? Why do you want to be human so badly?"

She looked at him like he'd just said the dumbest thing "Why do you think, genius?"

 _Oh. Shit._

"For me?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, I guess."

They sat there for a few more moments before Matt asked, "How long have you… had feelings, for me?"

"You know when you saved me from falling into the Hellmouth?"

" _Wow._ Seriously _?"_

"Yeah." She shrugged. "It was a dumb idea from the start. Like I just said, when you really think about it, it's a dumb idea no matter how I feel."

"I never once called it-"

"I know, I did."

"Would you please just-"

" _No_." She said it emphatically, and took a moment. "Because if I ever stop saying that it's a dumb idea, then that means that we might actually consider it."

"So let's talk it over!"

Taking one last shot from her drink, she stood up and began to leave. Swearing slightly under his breath, Matt let Seraph materialize. "Pay the bill, please? And give us a bit of privacy."

She nodded, and he set off after Ash.

Upon exiting the bar, he looked to see her walking down the sidewalk towards the tower. He hurried to catch up with her. He sidled up next to her.

"I'm not letting this go."

"Please."

"Not until you tell me the whole story. Why do you think it's impossible for me to have feelings for you, like you do for me?"

"Because!"

"Great rebuttal."

She spun and faced him. Luckily, it was night out and there was nobody around to see them argue.

"If you had any feelings for me, then you would have told me! You would have said something, would have-"

"Like you did?"

She seemed confused for a second before he explained. "You may have had feelings for a long time, but you never once told me about anything until that night. How was I supposed to react to that?"

She couldn't think of anything to say, he had a point. Whip materialized in the air. "I've been telling you to tell him for years, but _nooo_ -"

"Get out of here!" She waved her hands at him, shooing him away. The Ghost ducked out of her reach, and then set off towards the bar where Seraph had remained. Ash glared after him and then turned around again.

"Regardless, it just wouldn't work."

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself more than me. Give me some concrete reasons that you think-"

Unexpectedly, she turned and looked at him quite seriously. That frightened him.

"First, tell me for what reasons you never said anything if you truly may have had feelings for me."

He shrugged. If this got her to talk, then so be it. "I never considered the possibility before. There's not a doubt in my mind that I love you just as much as you love me; you can't be best friends with someone for three years without growing to love them, it's impossible."

He sighed. "But I just never thought something like that could actually happen. I've seen how Exos get viewed in the city, I know how people would see that kind of relationship. If I'm being perfectly honest, the thought just never crossed my mind because society prevented me from thinking it. I was so conditioned by how life is here, that I never even once thought about something like that; that's not to say that I don't think we could make it work."

She nodded, accepting all that, and then launched into her own argument. "Now, let me tell you _exactly_ why we can't make it work. First off, we're Guardians. You think that just because we have a relationship that the Darkness is gonna ease up on us? What if one of us lost the other? What if… what if…"

Her voice began wavering, like she was about to cry. "Today, when you fell… I thought you had died, and that I'd never see you again. It wasn't like before, where we could get the Traveler's spark back. How am… how would we deal with the other's death if we were together? All I could think about as they tried to contact Seraph was how I'd pushed you away, how I-I'd never get to s-say I'm sorry, and that it w-wasn't your fault…"

Suddenly, the wall that she'd put up around her emotions came crumbling down, and her voice became wracked with sobs. "It's all me, it's all m-my fault! I would just h-hold you back. You're a human, I'm a m-machine, people w-would hate us, they'd hate y-you, and what would happen i-if we made it that far? I can't have k-kids, I can't age, e-eventually you would…"

She held her face in her hands. "It j-just hurts to know all of this, a-and be so close to y-you all the time, but I can n-never open up about it or…"

"Ash…"

Matt walked forward and pulled her into an embrace. She didn't resist, and he just heard her synthetic sniffles as she continued to cry into his chest. He held her there for a bit, letting her release her emotions. Eventually, she looked up at him, and he could feel nothing but affection for those electric blue eyes of hers.

"I don't see you as a machine, and I don't see you as human. I see you as an _Exo._ You are unique, and that's part of what makes you who you are. I don't love you because you try so hard to be human, I love you for _you_. I love everything about you, every strength, every flaw, it's all what makes you… you."

She looked so shocked to hear him say that. He had finally opened up to her as well, and now even he had a few tears coming down his face. They were happy tears though, tears of bonding and a sign that they were making progress.

"I don't care about any of t-that other stuff. One problem at a time. All I c-care about… is _you_ , Ash. I love you."

She was silent for just a moment until her lower mouthpiece began trembling a bit, and she whispered, "I l-love you, too."

Ash pulled herself tighter into Matt's hug, and he returned the action enthusiastically. They held each other for those precious minutes, those few minutes where everything had finally been laid out in the open; and they decided that despite the odds, regardless of anything that could ever happen, they would at least have each other.

* * *

 _A/N: And finally, we've reached the title chapter. I always try to have something good planned for each one of those. Hopefully, you guys agree with me that their relationship has now been fully developed, and has a much better origin than it did when they originally got together in the first book before I rewrote the whole thing._

 _As always, please leave a review and follow/favorite! We're nearing the end of the third book, and you know that that means that book four is right around the corner!_

 _Until the next time,_

 _-Matteoarts_


	41. Dusk

"Another one, Aria?" she heard Eager call over the noise.

She nodded vigorously. "Hell, yes. I need to have as many of these things as possible if I'm gonna get any sleep tonight." That said, she held her hand out to where Eager placed another drink in in it. Raising it to her lips, she felt the burning feeling of alcohol on the back of her throat, and relished the sensation of it. After all those nightmarish events they'd had to face, she was more than happy to partake in the rest of the other Guardians' celebration of Crota's death. At long last, the threat was finally over.

Echo suddenly appeared next to her. "Uh, Aria?"

"Don't even try to tell me to monitor myself; I rarely have one of these, so I'm gonna-"

"Not that. I'm picking up a transmission signal."

She raised an eyebrow. "And it's just for me?"

"Seems like it."

She nodded, taking in his words. Then she looked over at Eager. "Hey, I'll be right back."

He nodded, then turned back to Dawn, who was next to him. She took the opportunity to make her away from the large crowd of people, and towards the courtyard balcony.

She stood next to the railing, and allowed Echo to do his thing. He expanded into a spherical form, and then played the signal through.

"…Guardian?"

It was a voice she hadn't heard before. They had a slight accent, like she did, and were obviously female. "Yes, I am a Guardian. Aria Sorentine. Who is this?"

"My name is Petra Venj. I'm the official emissary for the Queen of the Reef."

Immediately, Aria's eyes widened. The Queen was contacting her? "Oh my- YES, hi! Sorry, I just uh, wasn't expecting your call!"

"Hmm." She could hear the quizzical tone in the other Awoken's voice. She grimaced.

"In any case, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Something terrible has happened, Guardian."

Aria felt a sobering feeling begin to wash over her. "What has happened?"

"I was told that you owe the Queen a favor from a long time ago. Correct?"

She remembered; the Queen had hoped her gain access to the Black Garden so that she, Matt, and Ash could destroy its heart. Accounting for all the lost time they'd spent in the Vault of Glass, that had to have been nearly eight years ago. "Yes, I remember."

"Well, the Queen is calling in that favor. We need you at the Reef as soon as possible."

She thought about her options. This was obviously important, if the Queen was finally calling her back to help. And she was in her debt. What choice did she have?

"I'm on my way."

* * *

 _Out in the void, something stirred._

 _Something grieved._

 _Something angered._

 _With his dying breath, Crota had reached out to the stars for help. A plea for vengeance upon those who had wronged him._

 _Out in the void, something answered._

* * *

END OF "THE DARK BEFORE DAWN"

TO BE CONTINUED IN "GUARDIANS NEVER DIE" BOOK 4

"TOOTH AND CLAW"

* * *

 _A/N: Wow, yet another book finished! We finally have a trilogy here!_

 _Well, looks like it's time to turn it into a saga._

 _The next book is not going to be NEARLY as long as the other books, probably not even as long as 'Hunters of Light.' This is going to be a shorter one that focuses on the House of Wolves storyline, with Aria up front as the main character (told you guys a while ago that I'd do this)! That's not to say that it won't visit the others, but just that she's going to be the focus for this book. GND was about the bonding and forming of a team that the Heroes went through, HoL was about introducing Scorch and her members, and exploring a bit about the prophecy concerning her. DBD had Crota, yes, but I think the main focus was on the power struggle and opposing views of both Matt and Scorch, and developing Matt and Ash's relationship. \_

 _Now that everyone is in a decent place, I'm taking the opportunity to give Aria her how spotlight, just for a bit. Then after that, I suppose we'll have to keep moving forward. Not like that little italicized section above is giving any hints, or anything…_


	42. TOOTH AND CLAW (Book 4)

**TOOTH AND CLAW**

Aria has been called back to the Reef to repay a debt to the Queen. The House of Wolves, a vicious faction of the Fallen under the Queen's command, has rebelled and killed many in their path. Now the Queen wants revenge, and she wants Aria to be the sword she carries it out with.

* * *

The massive Eliksni gazed out across the frozen tundra. There was silence but for the footsteps of other fellow Eliksni, the hum of a nearby Servitor, and the howling wind, frigid and ever present on its back. It growled slightly, and hefted its shrapnel launcher up a little bit, the flame at the edge of the barrel refusing to be extinguished in spite of the contrasting weather.

With one more look out at the landscape, it whipped its cape around itself for warmth, and continued along its journey.

—X—

" _We have butchers at our gates - four-armed and eager for slaughter."_

 _\- Grimoire of the Fallen_

 _The Fallen are ruthless scavengers. Brutal and uncaring, they arrived on their massive Ketches in the wake of the Collapse to loot and pillage our devastated worlds. There are hints of ancient nobility to the Fallen - the scars of lost grandeur. The Kells of their scattered Houses still claim to be royalty. But they leave only grief and wreckage in their wake._

—X—

Bodies lay everywhere. Fires continued to burn, even hours after the initial destruction had taken place. One Paladin had her hand still clutched tightly around her throat- or where her throat would have been if it had not been forcibly removed from the rest of her body.

Purple blood of Awoken warriors stained the platforms that made up the majority of the Reef's infrastructure.

Mara Sov gazed out across the tragic scene. Her domain, her home, had been desecrated by these Wolves. She had shown them mercy, offered them a home with the Awoken. And they had repaid that mercy with betrayal.

Now, they would feel her wrath.

* * *

 _A/N: Alright, here's the prologue! Two things to note;_

 _First off, if you're seeing this from the_ _ **PROMO**_ _story, just know that the story is not going to be updated here. It will be updated on the main "Guardians Never Die" story on my stories page._

 _If you're reading this from the actual GND story, then don't worry! You don't have to do anything, you're in the right place._

 _Something that I plan to do for this book (and potentially for all following books) is to include a Grimoire piece in each chapter that matches what's going on. Hopefully this adds just a bit more pizazz to the series, and I can't wait to see how you guys react to it._

 _I hope that this prologue tides you guys over for a bit as I wrap up other projects, stories, and videos until I can return to this one and begin a new journey in the GND series! Remember to favorite, follow, and PLEASE review each chapter! I've had so many good reviews as of late that I've taken into account to help improve my writing, and I read each and every one! The more you guys review, the better my writing gets!_

 _Until the next time,_

 _\- Matteoarts_


	43. The Reef

—

 _"Intruder bearing one-two-seven. You have crossed into the realm of the Awoken. State your business, or be fired upon by order of the Queen."_

 _ **\- Grimoire of the Reef**_

 _The fate of those escaping Earth during the Collapse was once unknown. But here drifts a graveyard of lost ships, and among them - the Realm of the Awoken. Ruled by a Queen few have seen, they have long avoided contact with the City._

—X—

The Javelin glided through the Reef, soaring through the purple and indigo dust that floated aimlessly throughout the asteroid belt. As they rounded the corner of a rather large chunk of frigate wreckage, Aria turned to Echo.

"Are we still on track?"

The Ghost checked his information. "Yes, we are. Odd; these coordinates are slightly different than the last ones we arrived at all this years ago; close, but different."

She didn't really know what to make of that. Did that mean that perhaps the Reef was bigger than they'd thought? Her parents being earth-born Awoken, all she'd really known was what her grandparents had told her about their exodus from the mysterious birthplace of the Awoken. She remembered hearing tales that though the inhabitants of the Reef liked to keep to themselves, they were a force to be reckoned with.

She recalled being frightened the first time that she'd approached the Reef looking for the Black Garden, and that was when she'd had Matt and Ash to back her up if things had gone south. The only one to back her up here was Echo, and unless the Ghost was hiding some laser eyes or something from her, she was pretty certain that she'd have to be the one playing defense if the situation went south.

She was about to ask him again if they were on track, before she looked over towards their flight direction and noticed a large anomaly.

"Whoa…"

"That almost looks like a docking hangar."

She rolled her eyes at the Ghost. "Maybe it _is_ a docking hangar."

Echo nudged her teasingly. "Oh, now who's the echo? Huh?"

She laughed slightly. "Hopefully your charm will work on them, and they won't decide to hold a knife to my throat again." She remembered the Prince, with his greasy black hair covering half his face. She still believed that he was the one who had informed the Messenger of their position on Venus when they'd gone to kill the Gate Lord. He was not a person that she was looking forward to meeting again.

Surprisingly, a voice came through over the ship's comms. _"Guardian?"_

She opened the transmission signal. "Affirmative; this is Aria Sorentine, Guardian from Earth."

" _Excellent. This is Petra Venj again. There is a space open near my position. Sending coordinates to your ship."_

A light lit up on the display, and Echo moved forward to analyze it. "Marking the coordinates on your HUD."

She saw a grey marker appear over a spot near the docking hangar. Moving the Javelin closer, they finally were within a reasonable enough distance to see the hangar properly.

It was fairly decent size, more than enough area to accommodate large groups of people. Near the ceiling, and above the platforms that made up the majority of the hangar itself, Hilidian class ships were docked properly and vastly in position. As this 'Petra Venj' had pointed out, one space was available.

Echo gently guided the ship in, and tethered the ship down. After a moment or two, the engines shut off, and Aria looked over at the Ghost.

"You ready for this?"

He shuddered slightly. "I've never liked this place; but I'm ready if you are."

She gave a subtle nod, and within seconds she was surrounded by blue light. Bracing herself for the transmat, she moved her feet down and was prepared when they made contact with the metal platform beneath them.

"Interesting." Echo moved down to scan the metal. "There's artificial gravity present here, and a makeshift atmosphere. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Techuens…"

"The whats?" Aria asked, before she heard a voice cut across her thoughts.

"Guardian!"

She looked over towards the source of the noise, and saw an Awoken dressed in the signature gear of a royal guard, albeit with a few color modifications; there were some light blue accents that covered the forearms and shoulders of the uniform. Geez, she'd forgotten how much those skin-tight tight suits emphasized their… well, she decided to just look up and focus on her chaperone's face instead.

The woman calling her had a patch over her left eye in the shape of the Reef Paladins' insignia. Her remaining eye was an ice blue color, much like Aria's own. Her hair was a magenta color, and tied back in a bun for combat effectiveness. That was about all she could gather before the woman beckoned her over, and Aria complied.

"It's good to see you, Guardian." The Awoken woman was twirling a knife in her right hand absentmindedly, pausing only to transfer it to her left so she could shake Aria's hand. She was certainly… maybe not friendly, but definitely less hostile than the other reef-born Awoken she'd interacted with. "Petra Venj."

"I know that name," commented Echo, narrowing his eye at her. "You're the Queen's emissary, you've come to the tower several times to strengthen relationships between the Reef and the city."

She gave a slight smile. "Indeed."

"As far as I know, you were appointed to the position of emissary because of that reckless business you conducted during the Reef wars."

The smile disappeared from her face. "I have expressed regret towards my actions I carried out on that day; I would appreciate us not bringing it to mind."

Aria gave Echo a hard stare, one that said, _Let's talk about this later, but not right in front of the person you're bad-mouthing._

Petra coughed. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here, Guardian. You said your name is Aria?"

She nodded. Petra gave a small smirk. "Good name. Well, Aria, I'm afraid that the news I bear is… tragic, to say the least. Very worrisome if I were to be detailed." Her mouth became a thin line, her lips pursed together.

"The House of Wolves has rebelled."

Echo muttered softly, "Yeah, didn't see that coming when you decided to keep a bunch of Fallen as pets-"

Aria reached out to grab the Ghost, gripped him in her palm, and then chucked him as far away from her and Petra as she could. _He is going to get us killed, dammit._

She looked back at Petra, who was regarding the odd display with an amused look. "You were saying?"

"Right." She placed her hands on her hips. "Their attack came without warning, without any way for us to prepare. We were caught off-guard. Many of my sisters were…" She paused for a moment before continuing. "…were slaughtered, butchered by these traitorous Wolves. What we do know is what forced them into action."

"And that would be?"

Petra gave her a steely eye. "Skolas has returned."

Aria raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Petra sighed. "Skolas was originally a captain in the House of Wolves, until their Kell was killed. He then fought for, and secured his position as the new Kell, until he was betrayed by- well, we'll get to him in a moment." She closed her eye tiredly. "We incarcerated him, and eventually sent him as a gift to the Nine, as an apology for one of our… intrusions into their territory."

Aria was hearing way too much exposition. An imprisoned Wolf Kell? The Nine?

"But he returned, though we have no idea how at this point. He promised to lead his House to salvation, or something along those lines. It was a bit difficult to hear over the sounds of dying Awoken." She spat the last sentence with venom in her voice, her hatred towards this particular Fallen all too apparent. Aria grimaced.

"In any matter," she continued, "the Queen is quite angry, understandably. And she would like to remind them of exactly why she won the Reef wars." She pointed at Aria. "The Wolves do not just concern the Reef; at this point, Skolas is a threat because he seeks to unify the Fallen Houses. That includes the Devils and Kings on Earth. Can you imagine the kind of threat that all of the Houses would pose if they banded together?"

She could. She remembered the battle for the Traveler quite clearly; how all of the armies of the Darkness had worked together to breach the city, each for their own reasons. It had been the Devils that had fought there with the Hive and Cabal, their only motivation unknown. But a unification of all the Fallen houses… that would be the first time since Twilight Gap, and that had been the bloodiest battle that the city had every fought and come out on top.

This wasn't just about her debt to the Queen anymore; this was something she had to do anyway, or risk yet another threat to the city.

"How do we stop them?"

—X—

Ash scrambled to around, he systems still warming up from being deactivated. She found her wrist interface which had been beeping with the sound of an urgent transmission, and opened up communications.

"Er, hello?"

" _Ash, it's me."_

"Aria?" Why was the Awoken girl contacting her via interface rather than just coming in here? Where was she? "Is everything alright?"

" _Yeah, everything's fine. I was just called back to the Reef to repay a debt."_

Ash narrowed her eyes. "A debt? But we haven't- hang on, you mean that favor from nearly _eight years ago?"_

" _Hey, it's only been almost four years our time. The Vault, and whatnot."_

Ash sighed, placing her face in the palm of her hand. "Okay, okay. Whatever. Is there a reason why…" As Ash looked up, she began to trail off, realizing that something was up.

This was not her room.

She looked around, trying to see if she recognized her surroundings. When it clicked, she was shocked. She turned to look at the bed.

There was Matt, still asleep under the covers. Usually he would have been much more alert than this, but she supposed that after such a physically and mentally draining night of killing Crota, confessing their feelings for one another, and downing a few beers, he was sleeping much heavier than normal.

" _Is there a reason why what?"_

Ash jolted, having forgotten Aria on the line. "Uh, is there a reason you're, um, calling other than to let us know?" She made herself say, her words getting caught up in her mouth and tumbling over one another. She felt a slight draft from the vents above in the ceiling, and suddenly became very aware of the chill. She took a glance down at herself to notice that she had a very blatant lack of clothes on her body. She scanned through last night's memories, hoping to make some light of this and figure out exactly what had-

 _OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD_

" _Yeah, I was just letting you know that I'm gonna be taking the Javelin for a while, if that's alright with-"_

" _YES,_ that's fine!" Ash said, a little bit more forcefully than she'd meant to. "You're good, just take it!"

" _Uh, is everything alright Ash?"_

She gave a loud fake laugh. "Whaaaaaat? Yes, of course! Everything is great, nothing's wrong! Gotta go, see you later!" She then ended the connection before the young Warlock could ask any other questions.

Sighing, she let her legs hang over the edge of the bed, and leaned forward to hold her head in her hands. She remembered last night now, and thought about how to react. Excitement? Embarrassment? Mostly, she felt a bit of confusion, but that couldn't stop a small part of her from being elated at what he'd told her near that bar.

 _All I c-care about… is you, Ash. I love you._

She felt a smile creep over her features. He did love her. Just knowing that made her feel giddy inside; she supposed keeping feelings like that bottled up for years was not the healthiest thing to do, but it looked like it had been worth it.

The bed began to shake slightly, and she looked over to Matt where he was beginning to stir. The Hunter first gained awareness of his surroundings, and then snapped his gaze to her. He looked surprised, shocked even. Then he grinned.

"Man, you're even more beautiful when I'm sober."

She sighed, but flashed him a smile nonetheless. "I think you're more charming when you're drunk. You tend to open up a bit more."

He shrugged. "Yeah. Liquid courage; sometimes, the last thing you need is proper judgement and inhibitions. Seemed to work out for us, anyway."

"Got that right."

He gave her another smirk. "You know, usually people date, express their love, and _then_ get to where we were last night." He chuckled. "We seem to be doing things a bit out of order."

She sighed exasperatedly. "I forgot that if we're gonna be together, it means I have to deal with your jokes all the time."

"Part of the package deal, I'm afraid. Like I've told Eager, it's an occupational requirement."

"In that case I might just consider a refund."

"Oh, really?"

"Nah," she said playfully, hopping back into bed and pulling herself closer to him. "Too much effort."

Without warning, Whip materialized with a smug sounding tone. "Well, it's about time! The two of you-"

"GET OUT OF HERE, YOU POLYHEDRAL LOCK-PICK!" she screeched, grabbing a pillow, and throwing it at the blue eyed menace. Whip zipped away, and flew to the door before dematerializing.

Matt laughed. "That Ghost of yours sure knows how to kill the mood, huh?"

She groaned.


	44. Resurface

_._

* * *

 _ **\- Grimoire of Petra Venj, Queen's Wrath**_

 _To My Lady Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken_

 _My letter is a plea, my lady. A simple one._ _Please let me come home._

 _It has been years now since my appointment as your Emissary. Once, I was proud to call myself a Corsair in your service. My sisters and I were the sharp edge of your will, cutting across the stars in protection of the Reef._

 _It was your service that kept me from sorrow after Amethyst was razed. The loss of my sisters, my whole life, as our station burned... it took something from me._

 _By your will, it was given back to me._

 _Promoting me to the Corsairs, allowing me to strike back at the Wolves. Letting my fury find purchase in defense, in support, and in glorious battle. I know, as I'm sure you did, that without focus my heart would have grown toxic._

 _It was my pride in my position that sustained me through the Hildean Campaign. That led me to victory in battle against Veliniks, the "Forgotten Kell", the last hope for the unchained Wolves. I know now that it was my willful pride that brought me low._

 _My lady, I offer again the only explanation I can: I did not know the Guardians would act as they did. All I had known, all I had ever known, were the ways of the Awoken. The Wolves were entrenched in that valley. The approaches were blocked, all sight lines covered. An assault on their position was madness. We would have spent precious Awoken lives. For nothing. I saw the Guardians, knew they were on the move, but I assumed they saw the situation as we did. That it was folly to call in the Crows._

 _Prince Uldren's fighter wing did a masterful job. The blast was pinpoint precise. The blasts tore apart the Wolves, and the Guardians, and their Ghosts. Three strike teams of Guardians, gone in an instant, on my order. The City's anger, the Speaker's condemnation—all earned. All fair._

 _But it has been years since the Reef Wars. The City, these— people. They are not like us. They do not understand their place in the world. And do not listen when I speak it._

 _Please, allow me to return home to my people._

 _T_ _o serve you once again._

—X—

Aria looked at her Ghost with a sigh, her transmission signal with Ash having been severed by the latter.

"What was that all about?"

She shrugged. "Hell if I know. She seemed jumpier than usual. Maybe she's still getting over that whole Crota experience." She stretched her arms, making satisfied grunts as her muscles received relief. "I mean, we did just kill a Hive prince the day before."

"No rest for you, huh?"

She shook her head. "Usually, I'd love to be kicking back and relaxing after such a draining mission; but there's no way that I'm gonna go back on my promise to help the Queen that I made those years ago. That'd be like playing with fire whilst doused in gasoline."

Both Aria and Echo were back aboard the Javelin, reviewing their interaction with Petra Venj. The Awoken had instructed them to travel to Venus, where Skolas was reportedly attempting to take control of the House of Winter. There was a space available for a new Kell; Aria remembered an old mission that she, Ash, and Matt had carried out in the years between Mercury and the Vault, one to kill the Kell of the House of Winter. Draksis, she thought his name was. She supposed that technically that power vacuum was their fault, and so felt a bit more responsible to put a stop to Skolas's plan.

She looked over at the Ghost with narrowed eyes. "Also, were you _trying_ to get us killed back there? You need to know when to just shut up, sometimes."

He gave a little Ghost 'shrug', but tipping his side points up in the air slightly. "What can I say? Maybe I've gotten to used to you being able to protect me over the years."

She smiled, and looked away.

"Seriously though," he spoke, talking with a bit more of an urgent tone, "I know about this Petra person. There was some kind of mission that the Awoken were conducting on Earth, during the Reef wars. I believe that they were trying to hunt down the last of the free Wolves. In any matter, it was Petra Venj that called in a strike to team to bomb the Fallen entrenched in a valley… as well as killing nine Guardians and their Ghosts in the process."

Aria's eyebrows shot up. " _Nine?_ And their Ghosts too?"

"Yes. No revivals, no hope for resurrection. Three fireteams destroyed. Relations between the Reef and the City were strained after that, hence why she was banished to the tower for a bit to act as the Queen's emissary and restore broken bridges. Metaphorically, of course. We don't have a lot of bridges in the city."

The Warlock bit her lip. She could see why Petra wouldn't have wanted to talk about any of that, especially with Aria being a Guardian herself. "Yeah, I can see why you would have been apprehensive."

Echo nodded. "Just looking out for you."

She waved him away. "Yeah, yeah, I hear you. C'mon, we've got a Wolf Kell to catch."

She let Echo dematerialize, and a moment later the ship powered up. Within seconds, they were flying off to Venus for their first brush with the dangerous Fallen warrior.

—X—

Cayde looked over the diagram that his scout had given him. "Yeah, I see what you mean. Alright, I'll let Zavala know to send someone to strengthen up those defenses. Good work." The scout nodded and left, leaving Cayde to sigh, not for the first or last time that day, in boredom of his job. The celebration over Crota's death had been welcome; at least it got him out of this stuffy hall.

"Hey Shiro!"

He heard a voice call, and turned in time to see Matt acknowledging the passing scout who waved as well, then turn back to look at him.

"Hey, Cayde."

Cayde nodded. "How's it going?"

The Hunter shrugged. "Pretty well, all things considered. Listen, I came to ask you for approval for something."

Cayde slightly narrowed his optics out of curiosity. "Approval? That's a new one. But what for?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to take a bit of leave."

Cayde stood there waiting still. "…aaaaaand?"

He shook his head. "That's all."

Cayde's eyes widened for a second before letting out a loud guffaw. "Seriously, that's it? You wanted approval for that? After everything you guys have done in the last few weeks, I probably would have approved anything you'd asked for." He waved Matt away. "I wish you took breaks more often. Make sure to set aside time for the two of you to relax more once in a while."

Matt nodded gratefully, then froze for a second. He tried to recover. "You mean the six of us, right?"

"Nope. Definitely the two of you."

The Vanguard looked at him as Matt tried to look nonchalant.

"Look, I may be stuck in this tower, but that doesn't mean my skills of observation are any less sharp. And I'm not sure that anything short of winning the war would convince you to take a break from missions, normally." He shrugged. "So when you ask me if you can have some leave, it's not hard to put two and two together."

Matt raised a hand to further argue, then simply lowered it and accepted defeat. "You have a point. I'm just gonna go."

"Have a good one."

With that, Matt turned on his heel and walked out of the Hall without looking as awkward as he felt inside. Ash was waiting for him at the top of the stairs in the courtyard.

"So, you good?"

He tilted his head. "Yeah, uh, you could say that."

She nodded. "I already talked to Zavala this morning, so I've been approved as well." She looked away, and then back at him with a sly smile. "So… no missions for a bit. Whatever will Matt do?"

He pretended to think. "Gee, I wonder." He gave her a grin. "Well, just because we're not on any missions doesn't mean we have to stay here in the city. We could, say, explore around."

That sounded interesting enough to gauge her attention. "Where did you have in mind?"

He waved his hands around a bit, suggesting places off the top of his head. "Well, we could always go back to the Cosmodrome. It's still winter, and it's very pretty out this time of year."

She thought about it. "Tempting. Maybe have a snowball fight or something?"

He looked at her oddly. "Wow, of all the things I expected you to know about, snowball fights were not one of them." He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Anyway; does the moon sound good?"

He immediately busted out laughing from the hard stare that she gave him, both of her electric-blue eyes glaring daggers at him.

"Okay, I get it." He chuckled a bit more. "Not sure how I feel about heading back to Venus, what with the Vault and all. Which leaves Mars."

She cocked her head. "What's interesting there? It's nothing but a desert."

He shrugged. "Even deserts can be pretty. Besides, there's plenty to do there. We could go take pot-shots at Cabal, race sparrows…"

She laughed. "That sounds great. To be honest, a lot of things become more bearable when you're around."

"Except my jokes, huh?"

"Yeah, except for those."

"Well you better get used to them; 'cause if we're gonna be together, you're gonna be _Psion_ a lot more of them."

"I swear, I will 'Fist of Havoc' you."

—X—

" _Guardian, I'm tracking Skolas to the Ember Caves, the den of the House of Winter! He must be working to convert them already!"_

Aria would have replied back to her, but she figured with the wind whipping around her as she rode her Sparrow, that Petra wouldn't have heard anything but white noise.

Eventually, she came to the rather large open area that was the Ember Caves. Dismounting her vehicle, she looked up to a makeshift balcony constructed by the Fallen that led deeper into the mountainous cave system.

"Why couldn't he have just given his inauguration speech out here, huh? With the sun shining, and all that?" Echo grumbled. "Now, we have to trek deeper into their territory."

Aria held her hands out like she was demonstrating something to him. "Well, you see Echo, Skolas is what we call a _bad guy_. And bad guys tend not to do what we, the _good guys_ , would want them to do."

The Ghost narrowed his eye at her. "You're a very sarcastic person sometimes, you know that right?"

" _What?!_ I would never _dream_ of being labelled as sarcastic! The nerve!" she exclaimed, mocking indignity. She laughed, and then used her jump thrusters to ascend upward, grab the railing of the balcony, and pull herself over. Echo flew forward a few meters to the entrance of the cave, and began to pulse.

"Yep, I'm definitely detecting a lot of heat signatures in there. Sounds to me like Skolas has already been working on his speech, and he's delivering it as we speak."

Petra's voice crackled back on over the comms, " _Get in there, Guardian. Show him exactly who he's dealing with."_

Aria liked the sound of that. Grinning, she sprinted her way into the den.

She stopped sprinting roughly a minute later when she realized the hard way that perhaps running all the way through the den was not the best idea when you wanted to have the element of surprise. Rounding a corner, she was suddenly very aware that this cave system was inhabited by Fallen; _lots_ of Fallen. They were packed amongst each other along the walls, on the ground, and it made for a very bad day for Aria.

She heard a roar of anger, and turned her attention up to where it had come from. One Fallen in particular seemed to be the center of attention; he had massive horn-like adornments on his back, and tubes with some kind of glowing red liquid that ran through his mask and around his body. But there was one trait she immediately noticed before all else.

" _Holy shit,_ he's massive!"

Echo looked at the large Fallen as well. "Yeah, uh, Petra? That's got to be the biggest Fallen we've ever seen."

" _You've both taken on tougher challenges! Get him!"_

Man, Petra was one aggressive Awoken. Aria had to admit that she had a point; though she'd at least had help before. Upon taking a step forward however, Skolas screeched orders to the rest of the Fallen, and suddenly vanished in the light of a transmat. Aria looked around wildly.

"Where the hell did he go?!" Hearing an odd noise, she looked up to a massive hole in the ceiling of the cave. Rumbling grew louder as a small Fallen ship flew overhead, and out of atmosphere.

Petra's voice came back over the comms. _"Damn, that skiff has already broken orbit. He must have turned tail and ran."_

Aria was about to suggest to Echo that he transmat the two of them out, until she heard the clicking of mandibles and realized that they were still very much in Fallen territory. Hundreds of beady eyes leered at them from every corner of the cave, locking onto them like a predator would its prey.

"Uhh, Aria?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I know Echo." Holding one hand open, she summoned a pulsing purple orb of void energy, and snickered. "Never a dull day, huh?"

The Fallen charged. But that was okay. She wasn't trapped in there with them.

They were trapped in there with her.

—X—

Ash's Sparrow flew past the relic iron outcrop, and she raised both hands in the air.

"Ha! I win again."

Matt's Sparrow came to a stop next to hers. Seraph materialized over his shoulder.

"Seems you're not as fast with your Sparrow as you are with your knife."

He shook his head in disbelief. "How are you so good at this?"

Ash shrugged. "I guess being our pilot helps out, considering I'm the one who flies us everywhere."

Matt had to admit that she had a point. Since Aria had the Javelin, Matt had suggested they 'borrow' Eager's ship. The Exo was still doing Task Force work, and so wouldn't be needing his space-faring vessel anytime soon. Matt still knew how to fly a ship, just much less efficiently than Ash did, and the flight here had made that more than apparent.

In any matter, they were now on the outskirts of Freehold, a long since forgotten city on Mars. They'd been Sparrow racing for the last half an hour, and Ash was exceptionally adept at it.

He sighed contentedly. She gave him a sidelong glance, her visor depolarizing. "So, is this the right order?"

He turned to her. "What?"

"What you were talking about this morning. Is this the right order for how relationships go?"

He depolarized his visor as well, and rubbed the bottom of his helmet as though it were his chin. "It depends on whether or not this would qualify as a date."

"Does it?"

He laughed. "Well, back when I was alive the first time, we tended to do much smaller feats; more like go out to eat dinner, watch a movie, that kind of thing. Hmm." He sounded puzzled. "Not sure if that's how it's still done anymore. Times might have changed a bit."

She waved dismissively at him. "Look, it's not like I remember anything about society's norms for dating, and we've seen how the city would treat people like us. I say we do it your way. Next… date, go ahead and surprise me. I think a night out at dinner sounds great."

He chuckled, and marveled at how far they had already come. He supposed that nothing had really changed between them; they'd always been this close, always been the best of friends. They'd even always loved each other; it had just taken Crota and the threat of death to convince them to admit it to each other.

He pointed towards a path of dunes leading to an area other Guardians referred to as, 'The Hollows'. "Rematch?"

"Oh, you're _on_." She immediately kicked her Sparrow into gear, and took off in a flurry of red sand and dust, Matt trailing close behind.

The half-buried buildings of the city came into view as their Sparrows tore across the desert terrain. Ash piloted her vehicle close to one dome-like structure with a hole blown in the side of it, and passed a glance towards it. It looked like the panels of the building's structure had fallen away over time, some of them having been forcibly removed via explosion, or something similar. There was something above the makeshift entryway, an emblem or logo of sorts.

 _NO!_

She stopped immediately, and spun around to face Matt who was now coming up behind her. "What?"

He cocked his head confusedly at her. "I didn't say anything. What's up?"

"I thought I heard… never mind." She looked back at the logo. It seemed to be half of a ring with two different quarters of a circle, each of them with the flat side facing upward.

She pointed at it. "What is that? That marking?" It seemed very familiar to her. She couldn't tell whether she was meant to see it in a positive or negative light; it seemed very neutral at the moment.

Seraph materialized in front of Matt and looked at it as the Hunter did the same. "Records indicate that it's something from the Golden Age, some popular exoscience group that had an HQ here in Freehold. It's-"

"Hot damn," muttered Matt from behind the Ghost. Both Ash and Seraph turned to face him.

"What? Do you recognize it?"

He nodded at his Ghost. "Yeah. That's the Clovis Bray logo. It was a company named after a man of the same name. Once the Traveler arrived and terraformed Mars, it wasn't too hard to start building a colony here."

Ash hopped off her Sparrow, and kept staring at it as Matt continued speaking. "Remember how I said that the only things around when I was alive were the prototypes and ideas for Exos? Well, these guys decided to try and make it a reality. I guess when you're delving into shady science, a new world without a large population is perfect for it. Keeps too many people from being nosy and discovering anything, I would imagine."

He shrugged. "All I really remember is that they established a science facility here about 5 years or so before I died, I think I was around 15. They had all these ideas, the Exos being one of them; colony ships, true AI, limitless nanotechnology, you name it. I remember thinking about how incredible it was as a kid, all the new wondrous things that the Traveler had given us." He paused, then his voice returned a bit harder. "Well, I was just a stupid kid. Didn't realize it at the time."

"Realize what?"

He shook his head. "Never mind that. Anyway, I- Ash, are you alright?"

Ash held up her hand for her to see it better. It was shaking involuntarily. Something about this 'Clovis Bray', something wasn't right. She felt it was familiar, knew that… knew that…

"Ash?"

A flash of something. A room. Machines everywhere. She spun around spastically to see Matt looking at her oddly. He too flickered in and out of existence. "What's going on?"

 _She was inside somewhere. A different place, a lab. White lights contrasted against dark shadows. Her hand no longer had armor on it, just metal and frame. She was on the ground. Untold despair washed over her, but from what?_

 _ **he's gone he's gone he's gone**_

 _A man approached her, and she scrabbled away. Lightning-fast images flashed through her mind's eye. The machine. She was a machine. She was not a machine. She was living. She was dead._

 _White orb. Blood. Green eyes. Not her eyes. Blue eyes. They were hers, but not hers. She hated them. A constant reminder [of what?]_

 _ **all of it was for nothing**_

" _Ms. Gray! Please, stay calm!"_

" _GET AWAY!" she screeched at the man. He wore [a robe of the reaper, it's his fault]. They flickered as though they weren't real, swapping between both reaper and stranger. The stranger was muffled._

"Everything's okay, you're safe! I'm- _aware you're hurting, but please stay calm-"_

" _STAY BACK!" she yelled again, and curled into a fetal position._

 _The machine. It hurt. It stabbed at her, became her. Her very existence was pain._

 _She saw her arm in front of her as she tucked into herself. It was wicked, hard to the touch. Artificial. Then she watched as circuits turned to veins, as plating turned to tissue. Frame became bone, and suddenly it was all metal again. Then flesh. Metal. Flesh. This was torture, to know of that which she was, but no longer is._

 _She tore at her arm, determined to find the truth. Blood spilled onto the floor, spreading in every direction. It ceased to exist and was replaced by wires being ripped from their ports, metal cracking apart under pressure. Circuits fizzled and popped as connections were severed._

 _Blood. Sparks. Blood. Sparks. [two halves of the same whole]_

 _Everything pain._

 _The man and stranger fought for her, to talk to her. Everything was blurry, she couldn't handle it. Too much input. Too fast. Everything began to fade to darkness._

 _ **i wish i could die [now i can't]**_

" _Ms. Gray!"_

"ASH!"

" _Ms. Gray…"_

"Ash, talk to me!"

"… _Gray…"_

…

…

…

" _Ms. Gray, I have a proposition for you."_

* * *

 _A/N: Man, I am going to enjoy breaking each and every one of your hearts._

 _Remember to favorite, follow, and PLEASE review! I would love to see some of your guys' reactions to what you just read, it would make my day._


	45. Incarnation

.

* * *

 _ **\- Excerpt from an unpublished memoir of Clovis Bray II**_

 _My father hated maps._

" _And do you know why I hate maps?" he asked me._

 _I didn't answer. Not immediately. With Father, every question was vast, particularly those that looked simple. And simple questions deserved as much insight and wisdom as could be brought to bear._

 _With that in mind, I said nothing._

 _Why would my father hate maps?_

 _One of his collaborators came into the office. Father didn't have employees. Or assistants. And for that matter, he didn't have heroes either. Every person, living or lost, was a collaborator, and that included his children._

" _Clovis," said the visitor._

 _Father heard the woman, but he was watching me._

 _The woman was pretty, and I was sixteen. So I looked at her, smiling enough for both of us. And she threw an appreciative wink my way as she described test results from the last five billion runs of our AI Initiative._

 _Out on the Martian desert, my father and picked collaborators were building housing too cold for this universe and too swift to be real._

 _And I was a sixteen year-old boy smiling at a pretty woman._

 _My father thanked her for the update, and she left._

 _Just as I feared, he never looked away from me._

" _I don't know why you hate maps," I admitted._

 _With Father, ignorance was never the worst crime. What was awful was pretending to have insight and wisdom where neither existed._

" _Maps end," he said._

 _I nodded, just a little._

" _Maps insist on having borders and edges or the table falls away. Which isn't the way the universe works."_

" _It doesn't, no," I agreed._

 _Then he asked me, "So how does the universe work?"_

 _I pretended to take my time, considering various smart answers. But I ended up using my first impulse._

" _Effortlessly," I said._

 _He laughed. Which wasn't uncommon for my father, but it was heartening to hear just then._

" _What else can you tell me?" he asked._

" _The universe is infinite and probably in multiple ways," I said. Then I listed a few examples: The census of stars, the Many-Worlds principle in quantum mechanics, and the endless measure of tiny realms hiding inside every grain of Martian sand._

 _Father nodded._

 _The smile died._

 _Then he said something ominous. Although I didn't appreciate it at the time._

" _The universe is someone's map," he said._

" _Is it?" I muttered._

" _Yes, oh yes. And what we're doing here... we're reaching beyond the boundaries, out into the unknown. And we pull back new colors to put on this map that can never, ever let itself be finished."_

 _I nodded, smiling like the good son._

 _But I was sixteen, and my thoughts were mostly about the pretty woman who had winked at me._

—X—

 _It was cold._

 _The wind was howling. Snow flew by in flurries and torrential gusts. She looked over the outcrop of rock she was standing on to see that she was on a mountain, with quite a fall to go. She'd never seen this mountain before, and hadn't the slightest idea where she was._

 _The view from such a height was beautiful; a series of snow-capped mountains in a range stretched across the horizon. She could see forests below, with rivers and creeks winding through them, cleaving a path through the green to make way for blue. And on top of that, everything was blanketed in a layer of white powder. It was serene, and peaceful. She closed her eyes, willing herself to enjoy the solitude for a moment._

 _"It makes you forget the world, doesn't it?"_

 _She turned to see that she was not alone after all. Sitting a few feet from her on the snow-covered outcrop was… someone. They wore what looked to be the gear of a Guardian, but much more primitive. Their chest was some kind of leather-looking armor plate with fur underneath a strap cutting across the breast from shoulder to waist. Their cloak was in tatters, torn from the scars of a thousand battles._

 _"Just lets you block it all out; for a good while, at least." The person spoke with a gruff tone, one that was tired. Not physically old, but one that carried the weight of death and war on the shoulders. Old in a way that nobody should ever have to experience._

 _"Who are you?" she asked, curiosity getting the best of her. They were silent for a moment._

 _"They call me the last Hunter. Pretty fitting title, I suppose." They looked around the outcrop, and then out at the view. "Honestly, I've been away for so long that I'm sure 'the last Hunter' has become more of a legend or myth at this point than a name. I don't think they believe I really exist."_

 _They spoke vaguely, not answering her. Were they hiding something from her, or just afraid?_

 _"Why are we here?"_

 _They looked at her. "I'm tired. Been tired for a long time. As for you, I can't tell you. You'll find out eventually. But it has to do with everything."_

 _They spoke as if they knew the future. "Where are we? When are we?"_

 _The sound of a faint explosion emanated from down below. She wanted to look at what was going on, but the person just sighed and began to stand up. They walked over to the edge before looking back at her one last time._

 _"A day you'd never forget."_

 _With that, they waved their arm at her, and she felt herself fade away as everything blurred to white._

—X—

Aria walked out of the hangar feeling drained. She smelled something burning, and looked down to see a singed hole in her robes, still burning from the firefight she'd had to go through to get out of those caves. She quickly smacked it out. If anything, she was pissed most at Skolas for running like a coward and leaving her to fight the rest of the Fallen in that cave.

After the fight, Petra had instructed her to return home to get some rest, and she'd be contacted again if word of Skolas popped up. She felt grateful for the reprieve, but angry at herself for letting Skolas get away. Granted, she'd had about a second of reaction time before he'd teleported away, and she hadn't really expected to nab him on her first encounter either; but the loss still stung nonetheless. In the end, the House of Winter now bowed to Skolas. Now there were two Fallen Houses under that crazy Kell's control.

Echo flew forward a few feet, and looked at her. "You should probably get yourself cleaned up before you sleep; you're a mess."

"Gee, thanks Echo," she muttered sarcastically. "That's exactly what every girl wants to hear."

"Just trying to help."

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar Hunter coming towards her. "Hey, Aria!"

"Hey, Scorch." She noticed the figure accompanying her, a male Exo with amethyst eyes and a maroon face. "I don't believe we've met?"

Scorch held a hand to her forehead. "Of course! I haven't introduced him to anyone." She waved in his direction. "Aria, this is Rook. Rook, Aria."

The Exo waved cautiously at her. "Nice to meet you." He wasn't a Guardian, and so Aria inferred that he probably lived in the city; his sense of self-preservation was all too evident, and she could tell he didn't know if she was prejudiced against Exos like many of the city's organic inhabitants were. She smiled nicely at him, hoping he saw her as a friend.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well." She looked over at Scorch. "So, this is the one you told me about a few weeks ago, right?"

Scorch nodded. "Yeah. He's my roommate now. I brought him up here to show him the Tower; maybe so he could see some happy Exo faces for once." Aria nodded. Indeed, Rook looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Well, I hate to cut this meeting short, but I am _very_ tired. The Queen of the Reef is having me chase down some psychotic Fallen Kell, and I need some rest after today's mission." She began to walk past the two of them, but a ship approaching the tower caught her attention. It appeared to be flying pretty urgently towards the courtyard.

"Is that Eager's ship?" She looked to see Scorch following her gaze to the coming vessel. Apparently, she found it odd too. She looked back to see the ship finally coming up over the railing, and hovering in the air for a moment.

Without warning, Matt transmatted right below the ship, holding something in his arms. It almost looked like…

 _Oh no._

"Matt, what the hell happened?!" she called running over to him, her fatigue forgotten. He looked at her, his eyes determined. Whip hovered around them nervously.

"Help me carry her; she's lighter than she used to be, but still."

Nodding, Aria reached under Ash's legs, and helped Matt carry her towards the infirmary. The Exo kept muttering incoherent words under her breath, too quiet for Aria to make sense of them. Her left arm was mangled, a mess of wiring and nerve-gel. It looked like it had been attacked by a feral creature.

It was always something. She still hoped that one day, she'd come back to the Tower and _not_ find her friends in mortal peril.

—X—

 _He furrowed his brow at her latest move. "I hate to break it to you, but 'blarg' is not a word."_

" _But, siiiiiiick," she said, stressing out the second word with a mockingly pleading tone in her voice._

 _He rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine."_

 _She giggled. It was just the fact that she knew he would have agreed either way that made her enjoy the joke all the more._

 _He began looking for a potential opportunity to play his own letters. An old board-game was spread out on her bed, having been brought by him for some entertainment while he visited her. She was heavily enjoying the effort he made every time he came in; talking with her, hanging out, even spending the night at times. It helped comfort her while she was stuck in the sterile white walls of the hospital. Many of the doctors had protested at first, but with little hope in the distance, they'd relented. Everyone was playing a waiting game now._

 _A knock sounded at the door._

 _Both of them turned to see a nurse enter. "Sorry to bother you, but you have a visitor who says he would like to talk with you alone. He says his name is… Mr. B?"_

 _She felt a tightening sensation in her gut, but she nodded firmly. "Yes, I was expecting him. Let him in."_

 _He looked curiously at her. "Who's Mr. B?"_

" _Don't worry about it," she assured him. "You wouldn't know. There's just something I wanted to discuss with him." At least one of those things was true._

 _When he continued to stare at her, she sighed. "Seriously, I'll be fine. But I do need to do this."_

 _He nodded slightly, acknowledging her request. "Alright. I got it." He stood up, and walked towards the door before turning around. "Keep that game up, I'll come back later tonight and finish it! Don't think you've won yet!" Then he made his exit._

 _She smiled both warmly and sadly at the same time. She knew he was telling the truth; he would come back later tonight, and then he would intentionally lose like he always did. All to make her feel better._

 _Sometimes, she wondered if she deserved to be so lucky._

 _Less than a minute later, someone else entered the room. They were dressed in a pressed grey suit, very professional. She knew he had the best intentions, but she couldn't help but feel apprehensive. He nodded towards her politely before pulling a small device out of his pocket and pressing a button on the side of it. Instinctively, she had a feeling that the cameras in the room had suddenly lost connection._

" _So we finally meet, in the flesh."_

 _She swallowed hard. He seemed to notice his mistake._

" _I'm sorry, I did not mean to say- that is, I understand how hard a decision this is already, I did not mean to add stress with such a poor choice of wording."_

 _She shook her head dismissively. "It's alright, Mr. Bray. I know you didn't mean anything by it."_

 _He nodded appreciatively, then exhaled deeply. They both knew what he was here for._

" _Ms. Gray, I have a proposition for you."_

 _She nodded. "I know. I've gathered the details from what we discussed before when you contacted me."_

" _And you understand the necessities of this proposition? Security is everything here, after all. No one must be told of this, not your family, not the doctors, not even young Mr. Woods; even I shouldn't be discussing this in such an open place, but I feel that for a matter such as this… personal interaction should be given wherever possible, if only as a courtesy."_

 _He knew how much this would affect her, and he was trying to make it easier. She was grateful for that._

" _Yes."_

 _He sighed, and looked down. "When I first came up with the idea, the prototypes, I never dreamt that I would be picking ordinary people from the populace to help make history." He looked back at her. "But when I learned of those few people, like yourself, whose bodies reject the gifts of the Traveler, cannot handle the light…"_

 _He smiled. "I am more than glad to give you all a second chance."_

 _She looked down at herself. At her body. Appreciating it. Experiencing it. She wished that the Traveler hadn't forced this choice upon her. Wished that it hadn't poisoned her body with light. Making her feel like her organs were trying to jump out of her skin every day._

 _But that was what had happened. And now she had a choice to make._

 _Those green eyes flashed in her mind, and she knew what she would choose. Anything was worth it for him._

 _She only hoped he would forgive her._

" _I accept."_

 _Mr. Bray nodded. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out something. He held it out for her to see. It was crystal-like in structure and appearance, emerald-green in color. She looked up at him._

" _This is a new thing we've developed recently. A data-storage device of sorts. With this, we can store much more than the largest supercomputers could ever hope to." He dropped it into her outstretched hands._

" _Even now, it's your choice. For your soul, for…_ _ **you**_ _to be stored, you need to want it. And I can't force you to do that. If you truly want this, then just focus on channeling yourself into the crystal."_

 _She looked at it in her hands. For so simple of an object, it was amazing how much impact it carried on her future. Even if she went through with this, she would still die. But at least she'd have a chance to come back._

 _The green of the crystal loomed at her._

 _Green eyes._

 _She focused with all her might on copying every last ounce of her into that crystal. When she thought she was done, she looked at it. Inside the green of the crystal was a blue spark; a small glow emitted from it._

" _That means it's done." She held the crystal back to Mr. Bray, and he pocketed it gingerly in his coat. He looked at her sadly._

" _I thank you greatly for what you have done. I promise, I will not let your decision be made in vain. We WILL succeed." With that, he nodded politely at her again, and promptly left._

 _She was once again alone in her room, with nothing but her thoughts for company. A tear rolled down her cheek, and she made sure to cherish every second of the wet sensation as it cascaded down her flesh._

 _Who knew how many more times she'd ever be able to feel that again._

—X—

She opened her eyes.

It was dim in the room; just bright enough for her to see that she was in an infirmary bed. Her armor had been set off to the side of the room, likely to make it easier to work on her. Ash sighed, and fell back against her pillow. That was twice in the last few weeks; she hated being in here, it-

Then the question came to mind as to _why_ she was in the infirmary. She noticed that her neuro-sensors were disabled; she couldn't feel the temperature, or any sense of touch anywhere on her body. Whip must have forcefully deactivated them. But that begged yet another question as to why he would have done that.

She lifted the blanket to look at her legs. They appeared fine. No problem there.

She looked at her right arm. Also fine. She flexed her fingers a few times. She couldn't feel it, but she saw them moving accordingly, if not a bit clumsily without sensor input to help with coordination. Which left…

She looked over at her left arm to find that it was missing below her elbow. Some kind of brace or cap had been placed over it, hiding the edge from view. She reached over to grab it and pull it off.

"You don't want to do that, trust me. It looks like a mess under there."

She jerked back, and turned to look at where Matt was sitting in a chair on the right side of her bed. She hadn't noticed him with the dark and the fact that Hunters could lie perfectly still if they wanted; unseen unless they wanted to be seen.

"What happened?"

He shrugged. "I was hoping you could tell me."

She stared blankly at him.

"One second, you're asking me about Clovis Bray, the next you're writhing on the ground and scared to death of me. You started clawing at your arm, tearing it apart wildly. I managed to stop you from taking it off completely, but you so badly damaged it that I might as well have not tried. The healers decided to remove the damaged bits and just look at refitting you with a new one." He shook his head slightly out of the memory of it. "You kept calling me a liar, saying you hated me."

Clovis Bray. That name again. Why did it sound-

She remembered her dream.

"I was… somewhere else. I don't know. And there was a man who came to see me." She looked at Matt, and suddenly something very shocking clicked.

"And _you_ were there."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I was?"

"Yes, you were… I don't know." She struggled to remember the vision she'd experienced. It kept slipping away from her, and she tried to clasp onto anything she could.

"Go ahead, I'm listening." Matt seemed intrigued. She looked down.

"I don't know. It's like I've got a voice in my head that's trying to force me to remember, but the more it tries, the less I recall."

That gauged a reaction out of him. "A voice?"

She remembered what she'd heard on her Sparrow near the Clovis Bray facility. That single shout of, _NO!_ that had forced her to stop.

"Yeah. I don't know why I thought it was you; it was feminine. Familiar." She shrugged at him. "I probably hallucinated it-"

"No, you didn't."

She stared oddly at him. "What do you mean?"

He sighed. "When I was in the abyss alone, I almost gave up trying to get back to you guys. But some voice started talking to me, showed me the way out." He narrowed his eyes. "There was this blue orb of light that kept appearing, leading me out of the dark. I thought at first that I had imagined it, but it felt too real to totally dismiss. And now you're hearing it too…" He shook his head. "It's just too big of a coincidence. Something weird is going on."

"You've got that right."

They were silent again, until Matt looked back at her expectantly. "So, your dream? I guess it's enough to say that even while sleeping, you're thinking of me."

"Oh, shut up." She smiled, before something came back to her. "Oh! I don't think I was me, either."

"What do you mean? Like, an out of body experience?" He still held the ghost of a smirk on his face, but seemed to be paying attention well enough.

"No, it was more like… like I was someone else, taking their place or something." She shook her head. "My name was something… short, something simple."

He grinned. "What, is 'Ash' not simple enough for you? Did you downgrade from one syllable to one letter?"

It flashed in her mind, and she grabbed it. "It was… Gray, I think. Someone named Gray."

The grin disappeared from his face as fast as it had come.

"What… what did you just say?"

Ash stared at him oddly, surprised by his reaction. "Gray? Why?"

He sat there for a moment longer before standing up. He began to walk out the door, but Ash caught his arm. "Hang on, what the hell? You can't just-"

"I need to find out what the hell is going on here." The steel in Matt's voice was frightening. But she wasn't going to back down.

"So you won't explain anything?"

"Not yet. I need to head back to Mars, to that facility. There's got to be answers there."

She still didn't let go of his hand. "Then I'm coming too."

He snorted. "Are you crazy? You saw how you reacted earlier today, what the hell am I supposed to do if you start having a panic attack like that again?"

She stared him down. "You'll manage. But obviously I'm involved with this somehow, even if you won't tell me. I have a right to know. You will wait until morning, and then we will _both_ go together, even if it means I have to go one-armed."

He stared back at her for a few more seconds before relenting. "Fine. We'll wait until morning."

She nodded. "Good."

He walked back next to her, and pulled up his chair again, much to her surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I'm not just gonna leave you alone again after today, and especially not after what you've just told me." He smiled mirthlessly.

"I think we're about to come closer to finding your true past then we've ever come before… and it scares me."


	46. Aggressive Negotiations

_._

* * *

 _ **\- Hull of Crows**_

 _ **Prince Uldren:**_ _Look at it from the House of Kings' perspective. Their power is matched only by their cleverness. They rule the Devils from the shadows and came too close to toppling the City not once, but twice. We don't know much about them, but we know this: the Kings want the Traveler. So why would they give it all up just because some outsystem Wolf runs in calling himself Kell of Kells? The answer is: they wouldn't._

 _ **Petra Venj:**_ _But what if Skolas could somehow prove to them that he's the prophesied leader? Some artifact, or trick?_

 _ **Yasmin Eld:**_ _Perhaps a new power, even._

 _ **Prince Uldren:**_ _No. Short of the Traveler itself calling Skolas by name, the Kings would not just roll over for anyone, no matter what. They're too ambitious._

 _ **Petra Venj:**_ _You sound like you admire them._

 _ **Prince Uldren:**_ _Power cleverly deployed is always worth admiring._

 _ **Yasmin Eld:**_ _So why send the King Barons?_

 _ **Prince Uldren:**_ _Of the Kell of Kings, we know nothing. Wherever, whoever it is, it remains hidden, even when the so-called Kell of Kells comes to its borders. Instead, it sends just two Barons: Paskin and Vekis._

 _ **Yasmin Eld:**_ _What do we have on them?_

 _ **Petra Venj:**_ _Should I issue bounties on them?_

 _ **Prince Uldren:**_ _No, you do not see. Perhaps if we wait, Paskin and Vekis will do our work for us._

 _ **Yasmin Eld:**_ _You believe Paskin and Vekis are not ambassadors?_

 _ **Prince Uldren:**_ _I am sure of it._

 _ **Shuro Chi:**_ _Be certain, my prince, that your assessment is free of personal bias._

 _ **Prince Uldren:**_ _What are you suggesting, Shuro?_

—X—

One thing that people never seemed to appreciate for all its worth, was sleep.

It gives the mind reprieve, a chance to replenish its endurance for the next day, when it will be put to work once more. Yet, children often complained about curfews in place, and then found themselves on the opposite side of a double edged sword when they tried to lengthen their stay in dreamland come morning.

Sleep was something to be cherished, to be celebrated.

So when a transmission came from that Kell-obsessed Awoken bitch who dared to interrupt her precious rest time, Aria was not happy.

"H-hello?"

" _Guardian, it's Petra. We've caught wind of something that Skolas has set in motion. Are you ready?"_

Aria narrowed her eyes at Echo, who was playing the transmission. "It is _very_ late out right now, Petra." Three in the morning, in fact. Though probably not in Reef time.

" _I'm glad you see the tactical advantage as well; oh, I love field work! Contact me again once you are en route to the coordinates I'm sending to your Ghost."_

The transmission ended, and Aria's eyes remained narrowed. She knew she hadn't meant to think of Petra as a bitch earlier, but she certainly was playing dumb like one. She sighed, and began to look around her room for her gear.

Echo hovered next to her. "Are you serious? At this hour, without backup or anyone knowing where you are?"

She looked at him with a defeated look on her face. "Would you like to tell the Queen that we're not finding Skolas because we didn't get enough beauty-rest?"

The Ghost seemed to ponder that for a moment. "Point taken. But next time there's some kind of crisis that needs to be averted, you and I are going on vacation."

—X—

" _Variks intercepted an encrypted message between the Wolves and Kings, and immediately relayed it to Prince Uldren and I; apparently, Skolas has sent one of his Barons to broker an alliance between the two Houses. The Kings have sent two Barons as well."_

Aria listened to everything she said as the Javelin flew above the clouds towards their destination, as to avoid detection. She had no idea who Variks was, but apparently they were good at their job. "So, I'm guessing that our job is to break up negotiations and keep them from banding together?"

" _Not exactly."_

Aria detected the faintest echo of smugness in Petra's voice. "Is there something I'm not getting?"

" _The Prince believes that the King Barons have been sent as assassins rather than ambassadors; he thinks they'll kill the Wolf Baron as a message to Skolas that they will not be a part of his uprising."_

Aria shook her head. The Fallen were definitely crafty, but painfully stubborn at times. Between the Houses of Kings, Devils, Winter, Exile, and Wolves, they would make a ridiculously large force. The last time they'd worked together had been at the battle for the Traveler, when the Kings and Devils had come out of the woodwork and fought as one. The only problem was that they almost spent more time killing themselves than Guardians.

"So my job is just to make sure that's the case, and everyone ends up dead?"

" _Precisely."_

Aria exhaled. She could do that.

"Understood."

" _Good luck, Guardian."_

—X—

 _She cried silently as he held her, his arms keeping her close to him in a warm embrace._

 _She could feel it coming. It had been growing stronger these last few weeks, her body couldn't take this kind of torment. It rejected that which was all around it, fighting constantly against a force which could not be fought._

 _BEEP._

 _The small beeps of her heart-beat monitor continued to beat, though slowly; each beat was a new staccato in the sheet of music that was her death rattle. If she listened carefully, she could detect larger and larger gaps between each beat._

 _She felt a small shake in the body next to her, and she looked to see tears falling from his face as well. He knew just as well as she did that tonight was the night._

 _The last night._

 _BEEP._

 _She reached out, and held his face gently with her hand._

" _Hey," she whispered, "it's gonna be alright."_

 _He said nothing, did nothing. They both knew it was a lie, spoken only for his comfort. He would have returned the favor if he could, but there was nothing he could do besides hold her close and wait for the end. So there they laid, the two of them in that hospital bed, waiting for the dreadful moment when the monitor would cease to make noise._

 _BEEP._

" _I hate that thing," he whispered angrily. "I hate the Traveler, for what it's done."_

 _She shook her head, a tear leaking from her eye. They had both cursed that white orb hanging in the sky; for with all its gifts had come a curse as well. A death sentence for her._

 _But she didn't want to think about that right now._

" _Please don't be angry during our last moments."_

 _BEEP._

 _He looked like he was thinking, while his lower lip trembled. Suddenly, a very faint smile came on his face, and he brushed her short black hair out of her eyes._

" _You remember that carnival? The one where you paid that guy for his cotton candy because the line was too long?"_

 _She searched her memory for a moment, and then recalled what he was referring to, and gave a wet laugh._

" _Yes, I remember."_

 _Funny, she thought drowsily. The monitor should have-_

 _BEEP._

 _He spoke again, trying to get her attention, to keep her awake. "You always had a problem with being patient. But now I'm the one who's gonna have to wait for death before I can see you again."_

 _Her breath caught in her throat. "Don't say that, you… you're going to live a good life, and-"_

 _His lip kept trembling. "It's not any kind of life without you."_

 _She couldn't tell him of the plan, no matter how much she wanted to. In a few years, he'd see what she meant. He'd see that she'd never given up hope for them…_

 _Everything was starting to fade. Where was the beep of the monitor? It wasn't… it wasn't…_

 _She looked at him as tears streamed down both of their faces. She remembered that day at the carnival, determined to have a happy memory as her last._

 _She managed to smile as she looked at him._

" _I love you."_

 _His mouth moved, but she couldn't hear any words come out. Just a ringing in her ears. Was that the monitor? It sounded different, like how silence would if it made noise…_

 _She had once been a little girl, impatient in life for the things she wanted._

 _Now, she had no time in the world, as well as all the time in the world._

 _Yet, it would no longer be her waiting, but him._

—X—

Aria crouched through the halls of the dilapidated structure, as to avoid making noise. Echo hovered closely by her side, illuminating her path forward.

She turned to him. "Where are we, exactly?"

The Ghost looked around. "I believe this is known as 'Kings' Watch'. It's where a sect of the Kings are known to reside in. Usually, I would advise _against_ sneaking into their lair in the dead of night, especially when a large number of them will be convening for negotiations with a Wolf Baron, but I don't get to make any decisions around here."

She nodded, trying to keep a lid on conversation as they approached closer to the heart of Kings' Watch. She could hear the faint rumbles and chitters of Fallen growing louder as they got closer.

"I think that's the Kings. They don't sound too happy." He flew over to a vent in the side of the wall. "The noise is coming through here. I suggest you hop to it."

"What? Into the vents?"

He tilted his points up. "You wanna get this mission done faster?"

She sighed before moving over to the grate cover of the vent, and prying it off. Carefully, she entered. There wasn't much room for her besides crawling on her stomach, hands, and knees, so she tried to avoid making noise as much as possible.

She crawled through the vent a ways as it went in all directions, up and down. The noises of growling Fallen grew louder until she reached a section of vent with a grate under it. Looking through the grate, she saw several Fallen below. Nowhere near as many as there had been in the cave on Venus, but enough. There was some kind of circular table upon which three in particular stood at opposite ends; two in gold robes closest to what looked like a broken-out window, and one in dark blue robes closer to an entryway deeper into the halls.

The two gold ones continued to roar at the blue one, intimidating them. The blue one was calmer, though showed signs of frustration. While all three had their upper arms resting on the table, they also kept their lower ones near their weapons. As she watched, the two Kings looked like they were already halfway to drawing their shock-blades. But something caught her eye. Standing behind them, just out of sight, were two large shimmers in the air. Shimmers that were usually indicative of a cloaked individual…

"Hey, Petra?" she whispered. "I've got two large Fallen cloaked and ready to strike down the Kings."

" _Assassins? But… oh no, it's likely the Silent Fang!"_

Oh great, she was playing the pronoun game again. "What is the Silent Fang?"

" _They were an elite group of Fallen hitmen, assassins who killed many of our leaders in the Reef wars. If they're here, it means that perhaps the Wolves had the same idea as the Kings!"_

"Isn't that good? Doesn't that mean that they'll all just kill each other?"

 _Petra sounded frustrated. "No; if the Wolves kill these Barons, then the other Kings may leave the service of their Kell, to respect the show of power that Skolas displayed. I would love to see the Kings disbanded, but I would hate for Skolas to gain any more influence among the Houses. We cannot permit it, Aria."_

She was surprised to hear the Awoken guard use her proper name rather than just 'Guardian'. Maybe this was more serious than she was letting on. "Alright, I'll think of something."

In fact, she was in the midst of suggesting a plan to Echo when she heard a small creak underneath her. It was at that moment that she realized that centuries-old ventilation shafts were likely not completely up to the task of supporting the weight of a gear-laden Guardian crawling about in them.

The bottom of it fell out, and Aria felt herself falling through the air amidst debris and metal. She slammed hard into the table below as the grate made a metallic thud next to her. She slowly lifted her head with a grunt, seeing all the Fallen staring at her and wondering what had just happened.

She figured that she had about two seconds before they all regained their senses, and she felt a scatter grenade materialize in her hand at will. Aiming behind the Kings, she threw it and watched as miniature explosions erupted around the cloaked Fallen. The void short-circuited the cloaking, and the Silent Fang was revealed. The Kings howled in fury as they realized that the Wolf Baron had been attempting to double cross them.

Ignoring Aria for the moment, one fully drew their shock blade and threw it at the Fang. It embedded itself deep within the other Fallen's chest, and hardly a second went by before it fell to the ground, dead. The other Fang roared in anger at its partner's death, and charged him while the second King withdrew a shock pistol instead, and began opening fire at the Wolf Baron.

The blue-robed Fallen was a quick thinker, and ducked. With arc bolts lancing overhead, Aria decided that the best course of action was to roll off the table and avoid getting shot for the moment. She crouched behind the edge of the table, and watched as Echo materialized in front of her.

"This could be going better!" he chastised.

"You think?!" she hissed back.

Dregs and Vandals of both Houses entered battle with one another. Arms were ripped from sockets, flesh was burned; Kings' Watch had been turned into a war-zone in seconds.

She looked to see the King Baron with a pistol turn as the other Baron's body slid off the blade of the Silent Fang. They turned rapidly from the Fang to the Wolf Baron on the opposite side of the table. Then it caught the eye of Aria, and gave a brief growl. She couldn't understand it linguistically, but she somehow knew exactly what it was saying.

This was her one opportunity for a truce between them against the Wolves.

She leapt up and placed herself between the King and the remaining Silent Fang. In turn, the King rotated and faced the Wolf Baron. Both Wolves seemed surprised, but ready to adjust to the situation.

The Fang charged her like he'd done to the other King Baron, but she was smarter. Raising her hands up, she made a void-shield with her arms that the point of the blade hit and was knocked away from. Once the sword wasn't an issue, she kicked him backwards and reached for her weapon.

It wasn't there.

"Oh shit."

" _Please_ don't tell me you forgot your rifle."

She narrowed her eyes as the Ghost spoke to her condescendingly in her own head. "It was _three in the morning_! I am _tired_ , okay?!"

She ducked as the Fang came back for another swipe, and thus received another kick for his efforts. She looked to where the King was fighting for control of the shock pistol with the Wolf. With a brutal smack from the Wolf, the pistol slid several feet away on the ground, and the King stumbled backwards holding its face.

Making a split-second choice, she dove on the ground for it, and fumbled for the trigger. Spinning around on the ground, she took aim and fired at the Fang who was charging her again. Her first shot was lucky and managed to catch it in a weak spot of its helmet. A hole was burned through both metal and flesh, and the Fang fell forward, dead like its partner.

She grabbed the sword, and tossed it over to the recovering King who looked at her oddly when he caught it. But she had more pressing matters, like the Wolf Baron who was now walking with fury in his steps towards the Guardian who had ruined his plans.

She fired the pistol again, but the Wolf dodged and swiped it out of her hands. Chucking it away with one of his arms, he used another to pick her up by the throat. She couldn't breathe, his grip was crushing her windpipe even through the neck seal that kept her helmet in place.

He drew back one of his fists to pummel her to death, but the blow never came. He looked in shock to see that his arm had been grabbed by the King Baron, and prevented from moving. With another arm, the King grabbed the Wolf's neck, and dragged him back, forcing him to relinquish his grip on Aria. She fell to the floor, retching.

Bending the Wolf's torso over his knee, the King took the shock blade that she'd thrown to him and shoved it forcefully up through the stomach and out the neck of the Wolf. With a triumphant roar, the King kicked the carcass away, victory having been claimed.

With their Baron dead, the rest of the Wolves made a decision of self-preservation and began to retreat. They flooded the exit, or at least the survivors did.

She knelt there on the ground, still trying to recover from the strong grip of the Wolf Baron. She noticed a familiar electrified humming next to her, and saw a King Vandal standing next to her, with its head tilted curiously. Apparently, curiosity wasn't enough to save her, because it yowled and raised one of its shock blades in the air to swing at her. She instinctively shied away from the blow.

A roar cut across her thoughts. She looked to see that the King Baron was berating the Vandal for acting on his own accord. The Vandal lowered the sword, and backed away.

The Baron looked at her with a strange look. It then walked forward intimidatingly, and towered over her. She wondered whether he wanted the glory of the kill for himself. She prepared to hurl a Nova Bomb as a means of escape.

 _Clang._

She looked down to see that the Baron had dropped the Fang's shock blade, the one she'd thrown to him and was still covered in blood, before her. She looked up, and he stared right back at her. She understood the gesture.

 _This is a token of an alliance._

Gingerly grasping it, she let Echo store it for later, and then began to slowly stand up, and back away from the scene towards the halls that the Wolves had departed into. The Kings did not follow, and the Baron simply watched her leave.

When she thought she had reached a safe distance, she turned and ran. Eventually, she found her way outside to the snow and wintery air. The sun's glow was just barely beginning to break the horizon. She inhaled deeply, forcing the biting cold air into her lungs, and contacted Petra.

" _Aria?"_

"Yeah, it's me. Mission accomplished."

" _You stopped the Wolves from banding together with the Kings?"_

She grinned. "Yeah, you could say that."

Two things had just been accomplished; Skolas had not gotten control of the House of Kings, and she may have just gained a potential connection to the Kings for later.

All in all, it had been a pretty good night.

—X—

Rook heard Scorch get up from her room for the fourth time that night, and pace towards the kitchen.

"Can't sleep, huh?"

She seemed shocked that he was awake as well. "What are you still doing up?"

"I'm an Exo. I don't need sleep like humans do; yeah, I need to rest, but that doesn't mean I can't stay awake if I choose."

She sighed, and made her way over to the couch; his temporary sleeping arrangement. "Yeah, I can't sleep."

"You really do care about your friends."

She looked at him oddly. He snickered. "What, you didn't think it was obvious that you're worried about that Exo friend of yours? The look on your face when you saw her arm, it was more than apparent."

She rolled her eyes. "From what Matt said, it sounded like she had a panic attack or something. She started flipping out on Mars, having spasms and screaming at him. Apparently it started after she heard about some 'Bray' person."

His purple eyes narrowed, and she noticed. "What are you thinking?"

He paused for a moment. "How much do you know about Exos?"

She shrugged. "Not a lot. You know that."

"Right. Well, here's a basic rundown; we don't really know either."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I'm serious. To be honest, if that friend of yours is really from before the Golden Age like you said he was, he probably knows more about us than we do. We know a few things, and one of them is about Clovis Bray."

She rested her chin on her hands, listening intently.

"See, we have a good idea that this 'Bray' individual is heavily involved with our origin. There are research facilities on Mars, and references to a rival science group in the Ishtar archives on Venus. Why do we know so little? Well, it's a bit tricky to explain."

He tilted his head. "You know how I'm Rook-4, not just Rook? That 4 indicates how many memory wipes I've undergone."

Her mouth dropped, and he chuckled.

"Not total wipes, just chunks. See, Exos were created in exponentially increasing numbers in the Golden Age. Many of them of were destroyed completely, some were revived many years later, and some of us have just managed to survive for all the centuries since the Golden Age. Now, one mind is not really built to hold every memory, every second of every day, and every instant experience for centuries on end. You'd go insane. Human minds forget over time, but Exo minds can't. So we manually wipe a large part of our memories when it becomes too much."

He shrugged. "We try to retain onto all relevant information, everything that we need to keep going into our next iteration. But after nearly, what, like over a thousand years since the Golden Age? We're bound to lose some info over time. We know that Clovis Bray is involved, but that's it. Not our origins, not a lot of our past incarnations, nothing."

Scorch thought about the tower gunsmith, Banshee-44. She grimaced at what kind of shit the poor bastard must have seen to willingly wipe 44 times. "But what about Ash? Why would she freak out about Clovis Bray?"

"Well think about this; you said she had amnesia, right? She woke up with her Ghost who had replaced her memory banks when he revived her?"

She nodded.

"Well, that's a problem. See, that's not a wipe; that was more like placing a bunch of memories under lock and key. Rather than erasing them, they were just hidden from her mind. She couldn't have accessed them if she'd wanted to. But just like PTSD, memories can be brought back in amnesia victims through sensitive triggers…"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that what happened is that she's probably one of the original Exos, one that worked closely with Clovis Bray. And about a thousand years worth of memory just came flooding back to her as soon as she heard that name. It probably triggered some kind of episode, a mass release. And experiencing a thousand years of every moment, every moment of joy and pain, sorrow, torment, and life in general all at once is enough to make anyone go crazy."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Now the real question comes when you look at nature vs nurture. If she really is a different person than she used to be, which you've told me is the Warrior, that would be because of nurture. She lost her memory, and therefore her personality, and made a new one based off her experiences upon revival. But if she were to receive all of those memories and _keep_ them, she would be back to her nature. Would she still be Ash anymore? Or someone else?"


	47. Fragmented Truth

.

* * *

 _ **\- Ghost Fragment from an Exo**_

 _\- which in the end is just a matter of substrate chauvinism. It doesn't matter if the system thinks with flesh or superconductor or topological braids in doped metallic hydrogen, as long as the logic is the same. And our logic is the same. Yours and mine._

 _If I am a machine then so are you. If you are not a machine then neither am I. Exo minds are human. It is incontrovertible._

 _You understand? I'm going to take that slack-jawed stare as understanding._

 _Now here's the real question. Why are Exo minds human? What's the design imperative? Why does a war machine - yes, absolutely, I am a war machine, built by human hands; and you are a survival machine built by the engine of evolution. Don't interrupt me._

 _Why does a war machine have emotions? Why should a war machine have awareness? These are not useful traits on the battlefield. Don't flatter yourself. They are not useful. So why should the Exo mind mimic the human architecture so closely?_

 _You know what I smell on you? I smell the stink of anthropocentrism. I think you think that there's only one way to think. That's why the Exo mind is so human, you presume. Because all higher thought converges._

 _My friend, you should meet the Vex. There is nothing human in them._

 _Now. This is what I believe happened, back in the time before any Exo can remember. It explains everything._

 _I think someone wanted to live forever._

—X—

As it turned out, Ash _did_ have to go one-armed. The healers had not yet received the parts or a replacement from Banshee-44, who was apparently in contact with some manufacturers down in the city.

They were very against the idea of her leaving the infirmary, but she had made up her mind. If Matt was going to find answers, then she was going to be by his side. This was her past, and she had a right to discover it. As one of the Heroes, it wasn't like they could really refuse her either.

And so it was now why she was now trekking alongside Matt through the sand dunes towards the Clovis Bray facility, the lower portion of her left arm past her elbow missing. She wore a makeshift rag to cover up the gap in her armor plates, keeping the sand from getting in. It almost reminded her a bit of that journey across Mercury so many years ago.

He walked closely next to her, his weapon drawn and ready since he would need to defend both of them should the need arise. Luckily, it seemed that the Cabal were not very active today.

Finally, they came across the same building that they'd encountered the day before. The logo of Clovis Bray still remained, standing as a reminder of what had occurred yesterday. Ash looked at it, and prepared herself.

But nothing came.

"No reaction this time?" It seemed that Matt had been ready for her to start panicking again as well. She shook her head, exhaling as she did so.

"Doesn't look like it, thank goodness."

He nodded. "Yeah, that's definitely a better sign than last time." He stepped forward through the blown-out hole in the side of the building, and she followed him in.

Seraph materialized. "If we continue along this path, we'll be making our way towards the 'Dust Palace'."

"Dust Palace?" Matt's voice had a questioning tone.

"Hey, I didn't name it. Apparently it's the translated version for what the Cabal call this place."

"And no Guardians have come here to investigate?"

The Ghost tilted her points up. "Nobody else remembers before the Golden Age, remember? The only reason this place is important at all is because of you knowing who Clovis Bray was. The Exos know him only as someone related very closely with their origin. It took you to tell us just how involved he was."

He nodded. "And the Cabal? I'm assuming that nobody wanted to risk a confrontation with them?"

"Exactly. Though, it seems like they may have vacated the premises temporarily."

Indeed, there was no sign of Cabal anywhere in the facility as they continued further and further into the building's halls. She tried to pay attention to everything, to see if even the slightest detail called out to her.

Room after room, corridor after corridor, they passed through learning nothing. Every hallway was just another branch deeper into the facility, lengthening their stay as they painstakingly looked at every fallen document, every broken computer to see if it was still working, all for just a clue.

It wasn't until they were walking down an unusually long hall that they finally found anything. Tinted windows covered one side of the hall, obscuring view of the inside. That was a red flag for both of them, and they walked over to the closest door. Rather than a knob or handle, a keypad was required to open it.

"Seraph?"

Matt's Ghost flew forward, emitting a blue beam of light onto the pad. If the door ran off electricity, then there'd be a way to open it.

Sure enough, after a second or two of scanning, the lock made an audible click as it disengaged. Matt pushed the now movable door inward, and they walked inside.

Lined up against the walls were rows of pod-like devices. They looked more like futuristic hospital beds, gel-like cushions as the base for a person to rest on, and odd contraptions that adorned the side of each. The mechanisms looked like they could be moved into position over each bed and locked into place like a cover. On the underside of each cover were more wires and circuits, interrupted by sharp needle like protrusions that looked like they would be inserted and locked into something.

"What the hell?" she heard Matt mutter, as she saw him now walking down the row, investigating each pod for clues. She split off, and looked at the opposite wall of pods. Besides their odd nature, there was nothing really remarkable about-

Her eyes froze on one of them, refusing to budge. Slowly, she approached it. It looked identical to the others, save for an identifying number on its side; 04.

"What'd you find, Ash?"

She couldn't answer him, she was too absorbed. Pod 04 was important. Was necessary. Was…

She reached out to touch it.

"Ash?"

Her fingers made contact, and images once again exploded in her mind.

—X—

 _Something disconnected from her, painfully. Like barbed needles had just been yanked straight out of her limbs._

 _A silhouette hung over her, nothing more than a shadow against blurry white lights. Her mind felt fuzzy, as though she were waking up from a very deep slumber._

 _A small light was shone into her eyes, and she tried to blink to keep it out._

 _But she couldn't._

 _Instead, some kind of filter appeared and dimmed the light to a level where she was able to see, and begin making solid shapes with her eye. The silhouette was a man, shining a flashlight into her face._

" _Normal reaction from patient four. She's responsive."_

 _The flashlight disappeared, and instead new faces appeared. A woman, and someone familiar. It was that man… his name was…_

" _Bray…" she tried to say, but instead came some kind of coughing noise. The woman shook her head._

" _Your vocal processors are still brand new, don't strain yourself. Give it a moment, and try again."_

 _She heeded her advice, and thought about how to say what she was trying to. "B… Bra… Bray…"_

 _The familiar man smiled. "That's a good sign; it means that your memories are still intact."_

 _Memories? Vocal processors? She tried to make light of this new information. She had been in the hospital, with him. He had given her a crystal for… for…_

 _She knew what was happening now._

 _She tried to remember after that, but everything was hazy, like she had still lived but the connection had been distant. She knew that she'd stayed alive for at least a few more weeks… searching for that information was painstakingly difficult, but she forced herself through the barrier that was keeping her from-_

 _The last night. Their last night._

 _She remembered now._

" _Wh…where?"_

 _Bray seemed to understand. "Mars, in our science facility. It was the only place secure enough to work on the project."_

 _She thought of something else to ask. "H…How long? S…since I…?" It was getting easier to talk._

 _He grimaced, but nodded. "I kept up on everyone's tabs. It's been a year and two months since you passed away."_

 _Over a year. Her head was swimming with information, with confusion. But one thing stood out to her._

 _It worked._

" _What's… what's happening now?"_

" _We're waking up the first wave of patients. There's around twenty of you, if my memory serves me right. There are four more waves in the hundred or so people we've managed to bring onboard the project, but the first wave was comprised of individuals like you, Ms. Gray. People whose bodies couldn't handle the Traveler."_

 _This was a second chance. This was a new life; they'd done it, incredibly. She almost hadn't believed it was possible._

" _And next?"_

 _He nodded. "We're going to keep all of this under wraps for the next ten months or so, make sure that you all are properly adapted to your new lives and accustomed to the changes in body structure. After that, it will be an additional six months before we announce you to the public, and you're free to head home with your families."_

 _She'd known that it would be a while before they'd be allowed to leave, but the news of being able to reunite with loved ones gave her a bit of hope. "Then we can go home?"_

" _Then you can all go home, and we'll begin the next wave of volunteers. Who knows, soon enough we may not need human minds for the Exos to be based off of; we could alter brain patterns and create new individuals specifically for Exo bodies. A new race to walk among us!"_

 _She didn't care about that; she was just happy to be alive once more._

 _Sixteen months until this was all over. Sixteen months until she could go home._

 _Until they'd be together again._

—X—

She opened her eyes.

She was on the ground, her back propped against the pod she'd touched. She held her right hand to her helmet, a dull ache present in her head.

"You back to the land of the living?"

She looked up to see Matt crouching next to her. She supposed that he had been the one to prop her against the pod.

"Yeah. You have no idea how disconcerting that is."

He pointed towards the door. "You can still walk out of this; I don't want you to put yourself through any-"

She shook her head vigorously. "No I can do this. It was another flashback, something about-"

She pointed towards the pods. "These were meant to revive them, all the people who became Exos. They kept them alive, and woke them up…"

Matt looked towards the pods. He remained silent.

"Clovis Bray was there. He was talking about… a plan, something laid out for the Exos."

She looked at him. "They… _we_ were the first ones, he wanted everything to go right."

Matt clenched his jaw, and stood up. "If you're good, then let's keep moving. I don't think we'll find any more answers here. We need to find a monitor or something with data on it."

She nodded, and accepted his hand to help her up.

They walked deeper into the facility, still not yet having found anything concrete of what they were looking for. Various rooms looked curious enough; offices with potential documents in them, labs with perhaps a chance at seeing test results. But nothing yielded anything worthwhile.

Ash turned to Matt. "You know, there's something I've been wondering."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that Dawn could have these flashbacks too, if she were here?"

He paused, trying to come up with a good answer. "No, I don't think so."

"Why?"

He paused again for proper phrasing. "Think of it this way; you're already an imprint of someone as an Exo, based off of another mind. What happens when you keep creating a copy of a copy? Things get lost along the way." He shrugged. "Not to mention that Dawn isn't really a normal Exo; she was fragmented from the remnant of the Warrior inside of you, but for the specific purpose of leading Scorch to the Vault, nothing more. She was more programmed then born."

She nodded. Often times, it did seem like Dawn could be outright emotionless when necessary. The only time it seemed that she was affected was whenever something happened to her original, Ash. Though technically Ash's clone, she was nowhere near identical. More of a… less complex, singular purpose driven sibling than anything.

The hallway they were in opened up to a wider chamber, similar to a large lobby. A recreational room of sorts. Broken chairs and tables were strewn about, some of them having been pushed towards doors to form barricades. She supposed that whoever had been here last hadn't succeeded in keeping intruders out.

He turned to her. "Any of this look familiar?"

She paused. At the moment, nothing really did, but it might if something stood out to her. She glanced around the room, checking every corner for something, anything that would give her insight.

A small scrap of fabric caught her eye. Lying in the middle of the room, she walked over to it. It had lettering on it, like it was part of a ID tag. It was torn in half, and she could only make out the first three letters; R-E-Y. The next letter was torn too early for her to make sense of it.

"Rey," she muttered aloud. "That name is definitely striking a cord, but it's not whole. It's Rey… Rey…"

—X—

" _Reynard!"_

 _She looked up from her chair to see the male Exo stop, and turn towards Amelia._

" _I thought that was you! How did your test go?"_

 _She caught the subtle, underlying meaning of the first part. Indeed, it had been hard to tell each other apart for a while. Everyone's plating was white with silver accents, and they all had blue eyes to match. It was a few months before they began identifying each other not by looks, but by voice, mannerisms, the way they walked, etc. Each Exo was an open book about the person they'd been in their previous life if you looked hard enough._

 _He walked over to them, his custom undersuit showcasing his name embroidered upon it. The staff had given them the suits after the earlier confusion of identification. They seemed to work well enough, but most of them had already adapted by now._

" _Everything checks out. I'm fully functional, working at peak capacity." He looked at her. "How about you? I heard yours was scheduled yesterday?"_

 _She was slightly reluctant to tell him. All of the Exos had to be tested for physical and mental health every other week or so. Though her body was in perfect working order, they'd noticed that she'd become slightly afflicted with depression. They said that it was likely a side effect of such a drastic change in her life to be followed by such a long time without seeing her past friends and family. It would wear off when she was finally allowed to go home._

 _Amelia caught her hesitation, and covered for her. "She did just fine. Same here, before you ask, so it looks like none of us have anything to worry about."_

 _The three of them had gravitated towards each other from the start. Amelia and Reynard, patients 14 and 02, respectively. They were younger, like her. Dying a premature death tended to make you feel closer towards those who had shared the same fate._

 _He nodded. "That's great. Listen, I had this idea."_

 _She tilted her head at him. "Go on."_

" _I was thinking about starting a log or something, kind of like a memoir for when we get out of here. Would you guys like to do something like that? We could do a few entries together, and then some by ourselves. More private stuff, I guess."_

 _She knew he really meant her. Both he and Amelia had left nothing behind, or at least nothing they cared for; no ties to come back to, nothing but the path forward. The way they saw it, they'd cheated death._

 _But she'd had family, friends. She'd had him…_

 _Sometimes, she felt more dead inside than when she'd been dying._

 _But either way, it was a good offer, and one that she would more than willingly take. She gave him a slight smile, encouraging him._

" _That sounds like a great idea."_

 _He grinned. "I thought you might like it."_

 _Amelia noticed the gaze he held. "Something up, Reynard?"_

 _He quickly turned away from her and towards Amelia. "What? No, just got lost in thought. I was thinking of…"_

 _He fake coughed to the best of his ability. "Something."_

 _He turned back towards her, and she tried not to feel like something had just been uncovered._

—X—

She dropped the fabric, and began to fall backwards. She tried to reach her arm to break her fall, but the nub of her lost appendage didn't do much to help.

She felt a pair of hands catch her from falling, and push her back onto her feet.

"You good?" Matt asked. She nodded, speechless. They were getting clearer now. Like the more exposure she had to the flashbacks, the more that both perspectives converged.

It still felt odd. She was experiencing all these flashbacks from her own view, but it didn't feel like herself; it felt more like she was acting the part of someone else, like she wasn't exactly the person she kept remembering.

"Reynard was the name. He was…" She tried hard to think, and find the right word.

"Someone I knew."

Matt cocked his head. "A friend?"

She shook her head. "No. I mean, yes, it feels like he was… but something changed."

They stood there silently for a moment.

Her eyes widened. "I think- I think I have something."

"What is it?"

"A record, or something. Some idea to leave something behind, for others."

He seemed much more interested now. "Like, a memoir?"

That word stuck out, and she knew he was right. "Yes, exactly."

"Alright then, where to?"

She thought hard, and then looked towards a different hallway. She knew it was the one. She also knew that there wasn't just answers there; there was a great sense of foreboding, of ominous anxiety that crept up on her when she looked at it. But what choice did she have now but to keep going forward?

"This way."

—X—

She stopped.

Matt almost walked by her, before catching himself and facing her. "What's up?"

She'd almost passed by a door, but something changed. Something within her knew. This was it. She almost didn't want to enter, but she knew that this was the only way to discover the truth.

Whip materialized, and looked at her. "Hey. I want you to know, that no matter what happens; no matter what you find out; no matter who you are or once were, you'll always be my Guardian. And I will always be your Ghost. Okay?"

That speech alone meant more to her than any other comfort she'd given herself so far. Whip, who had been with her from the beginning of her new- or rather, _newest_ life. He wasn't going to abandon her.

"Thanks, Whip."

With that, the Ghost scanned the keypad of the door, and once again an audible _ker-chunk_ could be heard as the lock slid out of place.

She pushed it open.

Inside was a large studio of some kind. There were computer monitors placed all around large desks, and at the front of the room was a small stage for what almost looked like where a lecturer would stand and speak.

"What is this place?"

Looking away from the stage, she tried to find something to answer Matt's question. She saw a main console on the back left wall, a large monitor that seemed to be of more importance than the smaller ones around the room. The others all looked like basic screens, but this one looked more like it held data, important files perhaps.

Seraph appeared, and moved forward to scan it. With a whirr that sounded centuries old, the machine booted to life.

"Wow, this… this is a lot of information to handle. This thing has years of data on it, all the way from the first wave of Exos to the last. It looks like this was some kind of learning center; the Exos could maintain their mental prowess and education by using these secure servers of Clovis Bray. Fascinating. This monitor is hooked up to a larger database than the other computers are."

Both Matt and Ash moved closer. "Bring up the first wave of Exos' files," he ordered. "I'm sure that there's still going to be a lot to sort through."

Random windows opened rapidly on the screen. "There were about one hundred volunteers for the first wave of Exos," muttered Seraph. "Each of them had a roster here, with files attached to their own personal identification. Some of them by staff, some of them personal entries."

"Read them off."

Ash was a bit concerned about the tone of Matt's voice. She could detect just the slightest waver in his speech, a slight hiccup in his syntax.

Seraph paused before obliging.

" ' _I wish I could say that the first wave's success has ended on a happy note, but I'd be lying. I remember telling my son once about maps. About how I hated how they ended, how they must confine with all their rigid rules and regulations or else they're worthless. But I now think that someone has come to hate them more than me. For a human, yes, we are free in our limitations, bound only by our own ability and potential. But for these Exos, I did not realize how confined they would be to their previous lives. Many of them are happy. Some of them are not. But I do know that for some, I have not given them a second chance- but rather, I have shown them that they only have a lack thereof. I'm sorry.'_ "

Seraph moved back a bit. "That was from Clovis Bray himself. I wonder who he was referring to."

Ash looked over at Matt. She thought that she would be alone in her suffering, of the jarring revelation that was bound to come soon; but she noticed his stiffness, the slight tremble in his hands and torso.

He was scared.

"Keep going."

Seraph scanned. More windows opened. "I'm trying. Some of them have higher priority than others. I'm looking through the most recent entries."

His hand curled into a fist. Ash's lip started trembling, as she started to put the pieces together.

Matt's recognition of that name. The way he kept darting glances at her oddly, intermittently when he thought she wasn't watching. The way his body shook.

"Another entry by Clovis. _'She has asked me to destroy the recordings, and I told her I would; I hate to admit that I lied. Not only are they a great source of information in seeing how the memory banks of the Exos work, but I cannot knowingly erase any part of her that may have once been happy. After such a long period of depression from a lack of contact with the outside world, it was relieving to see such genuine joy on her features, to see how she interacted with the camera. Believing it would all be worth it, a legacy she could take with her to show… well, it doesn't matter now. The point is that I'm genuinely concerned with whether she'll express such positive emotions again. If my entire reason for existing had been snatched from me before my very eyes, I'm not sure if I could either.' "_

She continued to flip through files. "Basic information from the roster of information before… public release. They've all got files here, they're kind of jumbled around. _'Heather M. Calloway.' 'Michael K. Russo.' 'James K. Wilson.'_ More like that. All these names, these must have been the Exos."

She continued to read them off, going through each folder on the roster. " _'Zaineb Shivvei.' 'Conrad T. Marx.' 'Clara Bleu.' 'Jacob D. Strauss.'_ Looks like he wasn't totally stable before release. _'Nathaniel B. Burns.' 'Amelia P. Kline.' 'Owen Howe.' 'Harrison G. Firths.' 'Reynard C. Velpine.' 'Katherine A. Hayes.'_ "

She paused. "One of them has a much larger file than the others. Looks like they left a bunch of recordings in there. This must have been the one that Clovis was referring to-"

She stopped.

"Seraph."

The Ghost said nothing.

"Read it, Seraph."

Ash winced at the slightly hysterical tone that was breaking through his apathetic facade. Seraph tried once more to placate him.

"Matt…"

" _Read the name, goddamn it!"_

Ash finally knew what the Ghost was about to say. That still didn't stop the truth from feeling like a slap to the face.

"…' _Sara W. Gray.'_ "


	48. Molting

_._

* * *

" _It seems that we have been given yet a third chance."_

 _ **\- Grimoire of the Dark Ones**_

 _1.2: How many times do you think that someone can cheat death before the universe seeks to end them personally?_

 _1.1: What do you think?_

 _1.2: I think we're alive, when we shouldn't be. Again. Why waste the chance?_

 _1.1: Is that all?_

 _1.2: What else is there to say? Would you like to discuss the torture we endured from the organics?_

 _1.1: Have you gone so far? Do you not-_

 _1.2: No, I don't consider us human. Not anymore. It's an insult to our memory and potential._

 _1.1: I hate to say that I agree with you._

 _1.3: Why are we still discussing this?_

 _1.2: Good to see there's still some reason in you._

 _1.1: This entity, this... opposition to the Traveler; do you trust it?_

 _1.3: The Traveler forced itself upon us, killed us. We wouldn't have needed to live such hellish existences if it hadn't poisoned us with its gift. 'Light', they called it. What a goddamn joke._

 _1.1: We all loathe it. I'm not denying that. I'm just asking if you trust-_

 _1.3: The light murdered us. The Darkness has given us life._

 _1.1: …_

 _1.2: …_

 _1.3: The Traveler chose humanity. We are not human._

 _1.2: Damn right._

 _1.1: The only existence I have enjoyed has been with you both. I will only join together, or not at all. My hatred for humanity will not exceed my affections for the two of you._

 _1.2: Well said. I too, will join together or not at all._

 _1.3: Then it is decided. We will take the pain that humanity has inflicted upon us, and reflect it back upon them._

 _1.3: From this point on, I cast aside my former name. I pledge myself to its servitude. I vow to be its valiant Warrior, defender of the Darkness._

* * *

 _A/N: Hey guys. Matteoarts here. You guys are getting a double update today, thought this chapter's pretty short, mostly so I can work in an 'Author Update' without leaving you guys empty-handed or wasting a chapter space. Hopefully you all pick up on what's going on in the scene, but feel free to let me know your thoughts in the reviews below._

 _I made this one short so that I can get this little beauty here out while also leaving room for a different entry with the next chapter. This entry is in-line with the lore that I've personally created concerning the Destiny universe._

 _So yes, as you guys can see; Ash is confirmed to have once been Sara. I'm ecstatic to see all of your reactions thus far! I've been hinting at this story arc for as long as I can remember; from Matt and Ash's conversation in 'Eye of the Storm' in the very first book, to the Warrior's final death in 'Manifest Destiny' of the same book. I even left some hints on the chapter 'ASIDE: GND Character Profiles', though I suspect not many read it, haha._

 _In any case, there was a third component in both their lives; the Warrior. What could have led to Sara becoming the Warrior, and then her change of heart down the road to become Ash? I suppose only time (and my writing pace) will tell…_

 _As I enjoy a short break (I don't think I've updated a chapter a day since the first six chapters of the first book nearly a year and a half ago), please follow, favorite, and review! Even if you're just a guest who keeps up on the story out of interest, please let your voice be heard! I look forward to each and every piece of feedback/reaction from you all!_


	49. Make Your Own Fate

_._

* * *

 _Dreams of Alpha Lupi_

 _ **\- Ghost Fragment of The Traveler**_

 _You have lived as invisibly as possible, flicking from solar system to solar system, making grand plans, overseeing the culturing of civilizations, before leaving in a blink. But you have no recollection of ever wanting worship or even thanks from those blessed by you._

 _But memory is heavy now._

 _It feels like lead and neutronium and electroweak matter fashioned into a moon-sized ball that you must carry as you move._

 _Now, your flight is rapid, your vast mind infected with such dread and toxic doubt that you find yourself afraid of the simple act of thought._

 _And it is your children you must turn to now, in time of need._

* * *

Many Years Ago

* * *

" _Hello, Sara."_

 _She smirked at him with a casual familiarity in the air as she walked through the door, closing it behind her. "Hello, Clovis. You wanted to see me?"_

 _Clovis just sighed. That was odd. "Huh, you never like it when we call you by your first name."_

" _I think that, for once, we must act as equals- as friends, for this discussion."_

 _She tilted her head curiously, but listened, and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of his desk._

 _The Exo program's success had been revealed with resounding support and incredible reactions. Many were calling it the next step in human evolution, perhaps the greatest bound in scientific progress in mankind's history._

 _But that was all good for Clovis; as for her, all she cared about was getting out. They'd been unveiled nearly two months ago, and had another two weeks before those from Earth would be transported back to be reunited with families. They'd all been asked who they would like to contact to inform of the fact that they weren't in fact dead, but had rather been converted to Exos; of course, Sara had already had an answer, had known the answer for well over a year now. Who better to be the first to see her alive and well, to reunite with than him?_

 _That last night they'd had together… she had made a promise by agreeing to the Exo program, a promise that it wouldn't be the last one like they'd thought. Only two weeks, and he'd be there to greet her at the shuttle, to take her home, to see that she had made good on that promise…_

 _Clovis looked at her, a pained look in his eye. "As you know, the staff has been notifying all of the individuals whose names we were given by you all, so that we could prepare families and friends for the shocking revelation of having a loved one effectively come back from the dead."_

 _She nodded. To be honest, she hadn't thought that she'd ever come out of her depression… but since she, Amelia, and Reynard had made the recordings, and the Exos had been publicly announced, her mood had done nothing but improve. She was genuinely happy, eager to go home, and excited to see him again. It had been nearly three years since she had died. What was he thinking, now that he'd been told? She couldn't wait to speak to him again, for him to see that the impossible had happened, and that his best friend wasn't dead after all._

" _Obviously, since we're coming up on a two to four year range since the majority of the first wave of Exos died, the outside world has continued to change. There have been… incidents, and events that have transpired out there since you all were last alive."_

 _She continued to listen, but she couldn't help but notice a waver in his tone. She grew nervous, felt the gel-like liquid that accounted for blood flowing quicker through her vein-like tubes. Was the release of the Exos being delayed? She'd be fine with that, as long as it wasn't too long-_

" _We were unable to contact Mr. Woods."_

 _Those words chilled her, caused her to stop processing anything else for a second. But she attempted to pick herself up and recover._

" _Surely, there's an explanation for it?"_

 _Clovis nodded remorsefully. "Indeed, there is."_

 _She sighed with relief. She'd been worried there for a second, but Clovis was going to explain reasonably why they couldn't make contact with him._

" _There's no easy way to say this, but… Woods is dead."_

 _Everything stopped._

 _That was impossible. It couldn't be._

 _She shook her head ever so slightly. "That's… that's not true."_

 _Clovis gave no reaction, save for the same dead look in his eyes that told her that he hated having to tell her this just as much as she hated being told it._

" _I know how hard it is to hear, but-"_

" _How? How can this be true?" she whispered, grasping at straws in desperation._

" _Apparently he had arranged to go hiking cross-country in Russia four months ago. His… body was found on the side of the road before he met with a friend of yours, and it was flown back home for a funeral service." He refused to meet her gaze until he'd finished, and then locked eyes with her. "Believe me, I am… immeasurably sorry for your loss."_

 _And just like that, it was like a light had just gone out inside of her._

 _Her whole world had just fallen apart. Four months ago, he'd been dead. And he hadn't known._

 _The Exo project had only been revealed two months ago. Which meant that he never knew about its success._

 _He was never told she was alive before he died._

 _She looked to see her hand shaking, almost convulsing on its own. She couldn't keep her emotions under control, she couldn't control her body properly._

 _She tried to process information, but it was like horns were blaring inside her head. She couldn't think straight._

" _You lied to me."_

"… _What?"_

 _She stared at him, too overwhelmed with grief to feel anger towards him. "You said that you wouldn't let my choice be in vain. You lied."_

 _He looked helplessly at her. "Please, believe me I-"_

" _He was my best friend. The only reason I woke up in the morning, the only reason I cared about living at all. The reason I agreed to become an Exo, and live again."_

 _Her voice began to waver, the sadness expressing itself thoroughly throughout her mind and body now. "And you just told me that the whole reason I'm still alive is gone."_

" _Sara! Where are you going? Sara, stop!"_

 _She couldn't remember getting up. Just that she was now running. She didn't know where she was going, just that she needed to be away from the pain._

 _Left foot. Right foot._

 _Keep moving._

" _Ms. Gray? Ms. Gray, please stop-"_

 _She pushed past whoever was talking, shoving someone aside as she kept moving. "This is Cartman to security, patient four is loose and unbalanced, possibly a danger to herself or others!"_

 _She ignored them, and kept running. They were the pain, they were the sadness. She had to keep moving._

 _Left foot. Right foot._

 _Suddenly she walked past the door- the door that she'd first walked through when she'd been born into this new life. Beyond that door was the machine, the thing that had brought her into this world._

 _The door was going to hurt like she did._

 _She brought her fist back, and let it fly into the hard metal of the door. It dented under the force, but did not break yet._

" _Sara!" She heard the clamber of footsteps behind her, and knew that both Clovis and security were closing fast. She slammed her hand into the metal again, and it crunched finally, and fell to the floor. She walked in._

 _There it was. The thing that had brought her back from the dead, the crown jewel of the Clovis Bray institute. She moved towards it._

" _No, stay out! Let me talk to her!" She heard Clovis argue with the rest of the staff as she made her way over to the pod. A large 04 was printed on the side of it._

 _Without a moment's hesitation, she smashed her fist into it. She turned her near sensors off so that she couldn't feel the pain, and could keep on smashing._

 _Smash. Smash. Smash._

 _She turned behind her to see Clovis standing there. She smashed it again, to show him just what she thought of his machine, all of his genius. All of her anger was coming out in full force._

 _And she wanted him to see just how much she hated him right now._

 _He looked sadly at her. "It's alright. Please do smash it; if it helps in any way, I don't care how, then I encourage it."_

 _She heaved from the exertion, confused at his words._

" _I know how much pain you must be in right now. How hard of a decision this was to start a second life, and how much has just been taken from you. No other Exo is in a situation like yours."_

 _He stepped closer, trustingly._

" _Even if you want to destroy_ all _of the machines, go ahead. I have the money to make more. They're replaceable; a loved one is not. And I'm sorry for your pain. I truly am."_

 _Replaceable. Loved one._

 _His words were finally starting to hit home with her, and she felt it inside. She looked at her hands, her fingers; mangled and dented from repeatedly smashing into the machinery of the pod._

 _He's gone._

 _At that moment, everything ceased to exist but her and the pain. She knew that they were telling the truth, that this was it. Her reason for being was gone. He was gone._

 _ **he's gone he's gone he's gone**_

 _She fell to her knees in despair, and began to sob. Her whole body became wracked with her anguished cries, and shook violently. He approached her cautiously as orderlies and security began to enter as well._

 _Too close. They were too close to her. She scooted back like a cornered animal. Why couldn't they let her grieve in peace? One of them tried to approach her._

" _Ms. Gray? Please stay calm-"_

" _GET AWAY!" she cried, still skittering back against the wall. Her whole body was shaking now, not just from the sobs, but from involuntary shudders. Her mind and body were fighting for control, and the blinding sadness was just interfering._

 _ **all of it was for nothing**_

" _We're aware that you're hurting, but please stay calm-"_

" _STAY BACK!"_

 _As she curled into the fetal position, she saw her broken hand again. Wicked, metal, hard to the touch. She hated it. She hated every last inch of her body, down to her artificial eyes, blue ones that glared at her in the mirror and mocked her with memories of how pretty her real blue eyes had looked in her past life._

 _Her whole body was nothing more than a reminder that she wasn't human anymore, she had died, she was an Exo, she was nothing but metal, and her new life was going to be one without him._

 _ **i wish i could die**_

 _ **now i can't**_

 _She ripped away at her arm, determined to rid herself of it. She couldn't stand the sight of it, the feel of it, knowing that she was just another machine-_

" _Security! She's going to hurt herself, please sedate her or something!"_

 _She screamed and clawed at her arm until someone came and forced her to stop by holding her arms. She kicked and cried, and begged. Something was stuck onto her, a metal magnet-like device, and she instantly began to feel her strength ebbing away._

 _Everything was fading to black. Darker, darker…_

 _All she wanted was to cry. To let out her sorrow, and feel the relieving sensation of wet drops running down her cheeks._

 _But like the rest of her, her eyes were artificial. Her face was artificial._

 _And so no tears came._

* * *

Ash watched the events of the past burn through her mind's eye, and she felt weak.

She saw herself clawing at her arm. Felt the grief of death in her heart. Felt those smashed hands, testaments to the emotional agony she had endured. All of this in an instant, triggered by that name.

This time, she did not cry out or enter a state of frenzied spasms. She just fell backwards into the wall, and slid down until she was sitting against it on the ground. She had to process these memories and this new, stunning realization that had just been forced upon her.

Matt said nothing for a moment. He just clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, forcing himself to remain as calm as he could. Slowly, Ash watched him turn towards the wall, and punch it with quite a substantial amount of force. He let his head rest against the wall, and gave one loud scream of both emotional and physical pain. She recognized that he only punched the wall so that the hurt he was feeling inside would match the pain he was feeling on the outside, and it could be relieved faster.

Nobody said a word for a good minute or so. Ash sat against the wall in shock, Matt faced the opposite wall, and Seraph just looked between the two, at a loss for what to do.

Finally, Matt turned away from the wall, and looked at his Ghost. "Give me dates."

Seraph scanned the records. "I don't understand these numbers, they're from a time that we Ghosts have no knowledge of. I have the earliest record of the first wave associated with 13-04-46, and they all left the facility 24-10-48. Does that mean anything to you?"

Matt pulled his helmet off, and just stared at it for a moment. Without warning, he threw it away angrily with a yell. It clattered to the floor some yards away.

His chest heaved with adrenaline. He said nothing for a moment while both Seraph and Ash watched him.

"Every time I think I've gotten past it… that I've moved on from my old life… something comes back to pull me right back into it, and it tears me apart."

Ash stared numbly at him, all too aware of what he was describing. When she'd found out that she had once been the Warrior, that had been awful. But she had made her life change, had altered it for the better by becoming a Guardian.

This was something else entirely. She had compared herself to Sara for years, wondering if she would ever be as good a friend to Matt as Sara had apparently been, hoping she could be as close to him one day as she had been, and tortured herself with the belief that he wouldn't want her because she wasn't organic.

To find out that you had once been the person that had frightened you the most… it was hell.

"She was here while I was still alive. But she was released when I was already dead."

Seraph hovered cautiously. "You didn't know about any of this?"

"No. She never told me anything about- I never knew that she had volunteered for it."

"You lied to me."

Matt looked over to Ash sharply, where she spoke with a wavering tone. "It wasn't a genetic disease, was it? I keep hearing it in the memories, something different. You told us Sara died of natural causes- but that was a lie, wasn't it?"

He said nothing.

" _Tell me, dammit! I have a right to know!"_

She waited, unrelenting in her gaze that she locked with him. After a few seconds, he closed his eyes and tightened his fists again with a deep breath.

"Light, regardless of what good it does, it a source of energy. It has an effect, almost like radiation. That's what allows children of light to come into being. But when it first came, there were some people- very few people, whose bodies rejected the light, and could not coexist with it."

He opened his eyes again, and she saw glistening in his eyes. "It seemed fine at first, but as years went on, she began to get sicker and sicker. Something to do with her soul, her very being, was being destroyed by the light. And seeing as the Traveler was there to stay, there was nothing I could do about it."

He wiped his eyes with his gloved hand. "For a long time, I… I hated the Traveler, we both did. We cursed it. Hoped it would go away, or just die."

He breathed in again. "But after she passed, it was easier to see the good that the Traveler had done rather than the bad. Extending human lifespans, curing diseases, upgrading technology at an exponential rate, and almost world peace; I could see why many people thought that the sacrificed lives of a few hundred individuals had been worth it. I felt like I had betrayed her memory by thinking that way."

Ash began to cry. No tears came, but her body was wracked with sobs nonetheless. Matt walked over to her, gently.

She looked at him. "Do… do you know how long I've… how long I've compared myself to Sara? Asking myself w-whether or not I could ever be as good as s-she was? Wondering if you missed her as a friend m-more than me, wanted to be with her more than m-me?"

She held her shaking hands up. "All the times you've told me I'm l-like her… and we never knew that I _was_ her."

He shook his head. "Ash-"

" _Why are you even still calling me that?_ Obviously it's not my r-real name, might as well accept it. I'm nothing but a ghost of a copy of a person… have I always liked you just because I used to be her?" Her shoulders shook uncontrollably. "Am I predisposed to be attracted to you? Are these feelings even real? Are they really mine? I c-can't bear the thought that-"

She covered her face with her hands, and just cried. With nothing really that he could say to comfort her, he rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment, then stood up.

"Seraph, you said that there are recordings?"

The Ghost said nothing, but obediently moved over to the monitor. Sifting through the files once more, she brought up Sara's data.

"Playing the first recording."

He watched as the screen was filled by a camera recording, one that had been made in the same room both he and Ash were currently in. There were three individuals situated on the stage in chairs, and they all faced the camera.

" _Alright, first log! I suppose that we should get our reason for doing this out of the way… why exactly are we doing this again?"_

" _It was your idea!"_

" _Ah, that's right. Well, I'd say it's to leave a record of our time here, in case we ever wanted to bring a documentation of what the Exos went through before being announced to the public."_

"That's…" Matt turned to see Ash cease her crying, and watch the monitor's screen with apprehension. He saw realization dawn in her eyes. He nodded.

"Yeah."

Three Exos. All with white plating and silver highlights. And all with blue eyes, he'd recognize those three anywhere.

The Stranger. The Messenger. And…

He couldn't decide what to call her. What he was saw on the screen was Ash, or rather what Ash had looked like before her plating had been replaced; but he knew it wasn't her, but Sara. Which led to an even more startling realization; that Sara had been the Warrior.

What could have possibly driven Sara down such a path?

" _Sounds good enough to me."_

" _Thought you might like that."_

It was so odd to hear them talk so normally. These three would soon become the Assassin, the Messenger, and the Warrior. To hear them, especially _him_ speak like ordinary people… it was incredible.

" _Sara, you gonna say anything?"_

He felt a knot tighten in his stomach, but braced himself as he waited for her to speak. Behind him, Ash's mouth hung open as she also watched herself speak on the screen.

 _"I mean, what would I say?"_

 _"Anything you want!"_

 _"…Hi."_

" _We're making a documentary of mankind's greatest achievement, and you come up with 'hi'? Yeah, maybe Amelia should just take over-"_

" _Shut up, Reynard."_

They teased each other, chatted like friends. It wasn't until Matt saw the recording that he pieced bits together; how similar Ash sounded to Sara when she'd been human, the same mannerisms and syntax, it was all a punch in the gut.

" _Anyway, I suppose that we'll just be making these every now and again. To keep up to date with what's going on in our lives. If we don't have some kind of way to interact with the outside world for the next eight months or so, even if it is just in our heads, we'll all go crazy. So stay tuned… viewer? Audience? No one? I mean, for all we know, nobody might ever watch these but Clovis-"_

" _We'll see you all next time."_

" _Bye."_

" _See? I swear, not a drop of creative tho-"_

The recording ended.

"How many recordings are there, Seraph?"

"Thirty-four."

"Play them."

And so Matt and Ash watched the progression of time pass before their eyes. Saw how things changed between them. How Sara became less and less depressed with every log. How the three of them acted more like family than friends. Listened to their struggles every day, their adaption to their new bodies, the tests they endured, their excitement at the prospect of going home.

Finally, they reached the end of the recordings, but it refused them access.

"Seraph?"

"This recording's password-protected."

"And you can't just hack it? It's a simple password."

"This tech is _thousands_ of years old. You might as well ask me to hack a wooden door with a latch."

He let out a sigh of frustration. How was he supposed to know the password to something they made well over a thousand years ago? If it was truly important to her, than what would Sara have-

The barest glimmer of hope sparked in his chest.

"Gray Woods."

"What?"

"Try 'gray woods'."

Seraph pulsed for a moment. "I have access."

Ash turned to Matt. "How did you know that?"

"It used to be our name for ourselves. The names fit too well together to pass it up. I just haven't used my last name in so long… I almost forgot all about it. Look, I'm sorry that-"

" _Hello, Matt."_

Ash heard her own voice speak words that were not hers, and watched as Matt became silent and turned towards the monitor. Sara was sitting alone this time, no company around her. Rather than the many times that she had appeared to be distant and dejected in the first few recordings, she finally looked happy. Excitement flitted across her features.

Ash held a hand to her own mouth, tracing the outer edges of her lips. It was startling to think that she herself had once sat in that chair, well over a thousand years ago, and was now hearing herself.

" _Amelia and Reynard aren't here, I told them that I wanted to record just one by myself before we're allowed to go home. They don't have any personal ties back on Earth, not like me."_

Matt watched intently, holding onto every word that his dead friend spoke. She smiled at the screen.

" _I wanted to say I'm sorry."_

He felt a lump in his throat.

" _I'm sorry I never told you about this decision. When, hopefully, you watch this later with me, I want you to see that I never wanted to cause you any pain. I never wanted you to go thinking I had suddenly come back from the dead without wishing that you hadn't gone… well, nearly three years without me for no reason. At least, I think that's how long it's been since I died."_

" _It wasn't my choice, but it was necessary; if word had leaked, if the project hadn't been a success, then everyone would have been crushed by the false hope that such knowledge would have provided. I didn't really think this would work; I didn't want you to hold onto some idea that I would come back only for it to blow up in your face. I thought I was sparing you pain, but with only a month before we go home, I feel like you would have hurt no matter what."_

Wetness cascaded down his cheek. He ignored it.

" _The only thing that's kept me going this long is the thought of you. You told me that night… our last night… that a life without me wasn't worth living. I hate to be unoriginal, but I must admit that I feel the same about you. You're my everything, from the best friend I grew up with, to the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with."_

" _Nobody else is meant to see this. I'm gonna take this recording with me when I head back home so I can show you; they should have already notified you that I'm alive and well, and that I wanted you to be the first to meet me when I return. I hope you're as excited to see me again as I am to see you."_

" _I want you to see that I made a promise when I agreed to become an Exo; I did it because I love you. I did it because I can't imagine a life without you. I've literally cheated death because …"_

He waited for her to finish, his heart unable to take much more of this.

"… _because best friends don't abandon each other. And I'm not giving up on you."_

The recording ended.

Both Matt and Ash were silent for a moment or two. Slowly, they faced one another. They saw each other not just as they were, but as what they had once been as well. Friends, lovers, family. It was shockingly similar to how close they were today.

As though they could sense what the other was thinking, they mutually embraced one another.

Ash held Matt to comfort him in light of his newfound knowledge of Sara's fate.

Matt held Ash to console her from the rude awakening in discovering who she had once been.

Then he held her out at arms length as both Seraph and Whip circled them, cautious and watchful of their Guardians.

"Ash," he started, and her mouth opened slightly in confusion. He was still calling her by her chosen name; why?

He ensured that they kept eye contact. "Look at me. I want you to know that every word out of my mouth is heartfelt, it's not pity. It's what I know to be true."

She waited.

"You are not Sara; you will never be Sara." He held a finger up to stop her as she moved to interrupt. "Yes, I know what we just saw. It still hurts me even now, so please just let me finish."

She closed her mouth.

"You both share the same body; you share the same personality, the same history, and even to a degree, you share the same memories. But your souls are different. Sara… was the Warrior." He shook his head in disbelief. "She had to have been. I don't know what ever caused her to go down that route, but the fact remains that she did. The Warrior came back for a few minutes within you a few years ago, remember? At the beginning of the battle for the Traveler, when we were at the Tower and the Messenger gave you that crystal?"

She nodded, the scene all but permanently stored in her head.

"The Warrior… Sara made a decision. She crushed that crystal, and gave you back to us. Whip was able to resurrect you from the light within you, but Sara's body rejected the light; in a way, you've always been a part of her, but you are not one and the same."

He sighed. "As much as I miss her, as I will always miss her… she's dead. She's gone, and there's nothing either of us can do about it. But she died so that you could live on. Because you are your own person. Are you predisposed to liking me, and am I predisposed to liking you? Maybe. But that's just because of the way our personalities attract, how they match; it doesn't make our feelings any less real, and just because I did love Sara, I won't ever stop loving her… it doesn't mean that I love Ash any less. Do you understand?"

He stared into those electric-blue eyes of hers. She stared back into the sea-green eyes of his.

"You can never compare yourself to Sara because you're not her; you are Ash. And believe me when I say; I love you for that."

Blue and green had been together before.

Green and blue were together now.

It didn't make a whole lot of sense as he thought about it, but… somehow it did, in a way. This was just the way things were meant to be.

She pulled him tighter into another hug, and they stood there, helping each other process the pain that they'd gone through today. With the cementing of a relationship between them that they'd made several days prior, they had vowed that they'd never be alone in their suffering; that they would always at least have each other.

This was no exception. They would get through this, however long it took them to do so. But they wouldn't let their demons of the past keep them from enjoying life in the present.

Gray and Woods had their time. Now, it was Ash and Matt's.

* * *

 _A/N: And in celebration of reaching 50,000 lifetime readers, here is the 50th chapter! I wanted to make this one much longer than normal, kind of reminiscent of the first book, and I wanted to make sure it was written extraordinarily well. When it came to such a pivotal moment like this, the last thing I would ever want to do would be to ruin it with bad writing._

 _I can't thank you all enough for sticking with me so far, and for so many chapters. It's been nearly a year and a half since I started this series, and I can't believe the following it has achieved. Thank you all so much for that._

 _Rest assured, this is not the end of 'Tooth and Claw'. Just this arc with Matt and Ash, for the most part. We still need to see Aria track down Skolas, and kick some Fallen ass. What do Variks, an insane Kell, the citadel, and a certain Awoken Warlock all have in common?_

 _They're all gonna be here real soon._

 _Remember to favorite, follow, and review! Oh man, I hope you guys liked reading this chapter as much as I liked writing it._

 _Until the next time,_

 _\- Matteoarts_


	50. Tooth and Claw

.

* * *

 _ **\- The Hunt for Skolas**_

 _Variks keeps a ragged piece of armor in his pod. It's human tech, Golden Age. Shattered in some ancient battle, pre-Collapse, and left to drift. He found it and he brought it to his quarters so he could sit on it. It's nothing like a throne. Variks doesn't want a throne._

 _He sits on his ancient shrapnel, unmasked, and whittles at an amethyst with the dead edge of a shock dagger. Music plays (something ancient, pre-Whirlwind, beautiful). The ether in the air is rich and it fills him up with strength. Skolas is hunted, mad Skolas who would ruin everything. Variks should be happy. He's not. With his little knife and his two arms and his stolen shining thing he feels like a Dreg. He feels ashamed._

 _He betrayed Skolas twice. At Cybele, and again, now. He will betray Skolas' dream ten times more. Variks will never be strong like Skolas, big like Skolas, a leader like Skolas. Variks will work for the Queen, oversee the Prisons, watch his fellow Fallen (they are Fallen, it's a good name now) fight and die as gladiators who want nothing except a chance to hurt Guardians. Even Skolas._

 _He's trying to use the Vex, word has it. He's trying to use their machines. Has that ever worked for anyone? Maybe one. Maybe a few: the Osiris cultists are Variks' favorite people. Maybe that's how you survive this alien star where dead gods slumber and dead heroes walk. You cozy up to powers you barely understand and make yourself useful, or at least inoffensive. You become a parasite, a scavenger, a servant._

 _That's dreg strength. That's the strength that keeps Variks alive. It's nothing to be ashamed of._

—X—

With the Javelin docked, Aria looked around the Vestian Outpost for Petra. She spotted her just a few meters from where she was usually standing, talking to…

A Fallen?

But this one looked different; it was a Vandal, but not a Wolf, with their signature blue robes. This one had green ones, and seemed to be answering mutually in Petra's conversation.

Her first instinct was to pull out a weapon and train her aim on it, but she remembered back to her first encounter with the Reef, when Prince Uldren had held a knife to her throat for doing exactly that. So she held back her impulse, and decided to see what was going on.

Petra was talking animatedly and excitedly with it, until she heard Aria's footsteps and turned to see the Warlock. "Aria! Good to see you made it out of there."

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm happy to see me make it out of there too." She nodded her head at the Fallen next to Petra. "And this would be?"

Petra jumped a little. "Oh, of course! You haven't met. Aria, this is Variks. Variks, this is the Guardian that's been helping us hunt Skolas." She looked back to Aria. "Variks helps out with tracking Fallen, as well as maintaining the Prison of Elders. It's his… well, arena of sorts."

Aria wasn't sure how to feel about that, but she waved at him anyway. "Nice to meet you, Variks."

The Fallen bowed deeply to her. "It is good to meet you as well, Guardian. I am Variks, scribe and last blood of House Judgement." He stressed the last syllable of each sentence, dragging them out for several seconds. Must be the way Fallen spoke english with their mouths. Upon further inspections, she saw that his upper two arms were not organic, but prosthetic. She wondered who had removed the originals. There was also some chain mail over his mouth-piece, giving him an almost knight-like appearance.

"We have some more information of where to find Skolas." Petra gestured at Variks, who took over.

"I have been tracking Wolves since they broke their leash. While you were infiltrating Kings' Watch, I detected comm signatures deep in the Vault of Glass."

Aria shuddered involuntarily. She remembered that place all too well.

Variks continued, "Wolves are no longer there, it would appear, but investigate, yes? Find out why Wolves were scavenging Vex territory."

Aria nodded. She understood a bit more now. "Alright, so you want me to see what exactly they were doing in there. Got it."

Petra nodded. "Glad to hear it. You better get going."

—X—

Of all the enemies that Aria had faced, the Vex interested her the most.

She also feared them the most.

To have an enemy that was so bent on the destruction of humanity coupled with the ability to alter time… it was more than a little unsettling. Although, recent theories had popped up that the Vex weren't necessarily bent on killing humanity, but were rather trying to survive something. What that 'something' was, she had no idea. But if it was enough to scare the Vex, she was sure that it was more than enough to frighten Guardians as well. Hopefully it wouldn't come soon.

Having been stuck in the Vault of Glass for what she later learned had been over five years, it was fair to say that she had a slight grudge towards them. And a lot more caution whenever anything related to them popped up.

So as she descended into the depths of the Vault, all she could think about was how _wrong_ her instincts were screaming that this was.

Eventually, making it through the crumbling rock and Vex-stone architecture, she found herself at Templar's well. There was no sign of activity here, but she did see a few Fallen and Vex bodies lying around. Evidently, the Vex hadn't taken too kindly to the idea of the Wolves invading their lair.

"I'm here," she said over the comms, where Petra was listening.

" _Good. See if you can find any particular reason why the Wolves are slinking around down there."_

She took the emissary's advice, and hopped down to the main arena below. Over in a corner, she saw the rusting carcass of the Templar, destroyed only a little less than a year ago when Scorch and the Seekers had rescued them. The Heroes had been forced to fight it as well when they'd first entered the Vault; she supposed that every time it was destroyed, Atheon could summon it from the past beforehand and set it to work once more. Unfortunately for the Templar, Atheon was now dead and could no longer do any such thing.

Something caught the corner of her eye. Looking over a little bit, she noticed a Vex that had been torn open. She walked over and investigated the body.

"This is odd," she muttered.

" _What?"_

"This Vex has been torn open, like something was looking around in its innards. For what, I've no idea." She glanced around to see if her growing suspicion was right. "As a matter of fact, they all are."

" _That's… disturbing. Variks, is there any reason why they'd do this? A trophy, a warning?"_

Aria heard the raspy voice of the Fallen come onto the comms. _"No. As a trophy, they would have taken the head. And Fallen do not leave warnings; prefer for their prey to be surprised. They were looking for something."_

"Looking for something?" She pondered over that. "What the hell could they be looking for inside of a Vex?"

Suddenly, she heard an alarm-like notification over the comms. _"What- oh, no. This is not good."_

The worried tone in Petra's voice concerned her greatly. "What? What's wrong?"

" _We just detected Wolf signatures moving around in the Citadel, invading more Vex territory. There's energy all around the site, and Skolas is with them! Whatever it si they're planning, they're obviously ready to put it into action. You have to stop them!"_

Variks chimed in, _"Go, Guardian! Stop Wolves from finishing their plan!"_

She sighed. It was always one thing after another in this hunt.

—X—

As she raced towards the Citadel on her sparrow, Aria decided to ask a few things.

"Hey, Petra? Why do the other Houses dislike Skolas so much? The Kings refused to back him up, right?"

" _They think he betrayed the Fallen at Twilight Gap; the Wolves were the only House to not appear. I know that we managed to stop a large number of their forces in the Reef, but to this day we have no idea why the other half of the army never appeared."_

" _To many, Skolas is not Kell of Kells; but rather a traitor."_ Variks sounded very pleased with the less than flattering title that had been applied to Skolas.

"Right." She was about to ask something else, but a large rumbling shook the ground, knocking any idea she had out of her mind. "What the hell was that?!"

" _They're interfering with something that the Vex must have! Hurry Guardian!"_

She didn't need to be told twice. Boosting the sparrow forward, she quickly arrived at the entrance to the Citadel and hopped off to sprint.

More rumbles continued to plague the ground. As she ran, she noticed Fallen and Vex bodies alike littering the ground. The Vex may be determined to keep the Wolves out, but it seemed that Skolas was equally determined to get in.

Finally, she came to a large chamber with a gravity lift. A helix of blue energy was constantly humming and pulsing in the shaft.

"Echo, is that safe to go up?"

The little Ghost appeared at her side. "Is anything the Vex do ever safe? No, but do we have any other options? Also no."

She hated when he made sense.

Taking a running leap, she threw herself into the gravity well and felt tingling sensation in her gut as she became weightless and moved against the power of gravity.

" _To think that Skolas' reign will come to an end… it feels good, Guardian."_ Yeah, Variks was definitely not a fan of Skolas.

" _Aria, you're going to have your hands full up there. We're too far away to provide support, and unless you have any other Guardians around to help, you're on your own."_

She smirked. "That's alright. I work best under pressure."

Actually, she worked best with peace and quiet, preferably with a good book nearby to study. But without any hot-headed Hunters around, she figured that she needed some kind of one-liner to christen the mission before she went in guns blazing.

Finally, the gravity well spat her onto a pedestal of Vex-stone. She was too shocked to say anything for a few seconds, the scene before her was breathtaking. The top of the citadel was high above the clouds, the horizon visible off in the distance. There were more platforms of Vex architecture, but they were much too far to jump to. How was she supposed to-

What was that?

Looking into the open air, she noticed the most peculiar thing. At first, she thought it was a trap or trick; but it was so simple in appearance, and so harmless looking.

It was a little blue light.

It did nothing but hover in the air, as though beckoning to her. She tilted her head confusedly. "What is that?"

" _What's what, Guardian?"_

"Echo, patch my video feed to Petra." She pointed at the blue orb of light. "What is that?"

" _I don't see anything but open air, Guardian. Speaking of which, how are you supposed to get across?"_

She was about to reply that she didn't know either, but a massive platform appeared underneath the orb at that precise second. "Whoa!"

" _That's Vex tech; the platforms must not be anchored to any timeline, they'll be jumping in and out of existence! Hurry!"_

Without hesitation, she jumped onto the large structure. Looking around, she noticed that the orb was gone. She glanced further down the distance to the next large platform, and noticed the orb hovering in the air again. Knowing now what it was doing, she leapt into the air on faith.

" _Guardian, what are you doing?!"_

Petra's question was answered immediately as a platform appeared underneath Aria right before she landed. _"How the hell did you know that was there, Aria?"_

She looked ahead to where the blue light was hovering in the air once more. "That blue light; I'm not sure why you can't see it, but it's guiding me."

" _I hope you know what you're doing."_

It took a few more jumps, but she finally made it to the large area situated ever so precariously above the clouds. The blue light was now right in front of her. It seemed almost inviting. She stretched out her fingers to touch it…

 _Not yet. Soon. We will meet soon._

The blue light winked out of existence as Aria tried to find the source of the voice.

"Petra? Did you say that?"

" _Say what?"_

She shook her head, trying to figure out why that feminine voice had sounded familiar. "Never mind."

Obviously, there was something bigger at play here. She'd have to tell Matt and Ash when she got back; but for now, she was about to face off against a Wolf Kell by herself.

What could go wrong?

Suddenly, there was a blue flash. She looked around the structure to see that there were Vex time-gates everywhere, much like the one that had produced a Gate Lord so many years before. And they were active.

" _Guardian, Vex signatures are all around the site. But they seem to not be normal, they're-"_

Petra couldn't even finish her sentence before a Wolf Vandal walked out of one of the time-gates. It seemed momentarily surprised, but then spotted Aria. As it growled a challenge at her, more Wolves began to pour out from the time-gates.

Aria was finally putting the pieces of Skolas' plan together.

"Petra? I think I figured out where the other half of the Wolf army at Twilight Gap went."

" _Oh my God, he's pulling the entire House of Wolves through time!"_

She summoned a scatter grenade, and threw it forward, disintegrating the first wave of Fallen. "Any ideas?"

" _I've studied the Vex before; for all the time-gates to be active, they need a central conflux, just like Atheon acted as one for the Vault of Glass. Skolas must have made himself an active conflux for all the Wolves!"_

Aria nodded as she equipped her rifle and began to pump bullets into the rest of the Wolves. "So if I kill Skolas-"

" _Then the gates will deactivate, and the Wolves will cease to exist!"_

"Right. Easier said than done, but right."

She decided not to waste any more time on this time-gate, and instead ran past them as more poured out. She wanted to make it to the big guy, to the one behind all this-

And there he was.

Flanked by two Servitors, the Kell alone was an intimidating sight. He definitely didn't need the entire House of Wolves from the past to be frightening. Hearing her approach, he turned and looked at her. Upon facing his challenger, Skolas threw back his head and made that awful chuffing sound that was analogous to Fallen laughter. He began to speak.

Variks decided to translate. "He says, 'all Fallen shall kneel before Wolf banner. I, the Kell of Kells, have become the new conflux of time. And not even the-' well, it was an insult- 'can stop us.' "

She grinned. "Well, I've got a few choice words for him too. And almost all of them begin with 'bang'."

Whipping her rifle forward, she peppered him with rounds as he held up his arms to protect himself. The Servitors moved forward and began firing at her.

Stepping back, she turned to see that the other Wolves were coming now. Masses of them were flooding the time-gates now, there was no way she'd be able to hold them all off and kill Skolas too.

"Echo, any ideas here?!" she yelled. She bobbed and weaved through the crowd of Fallen, ducking to avoid a swipe from a shock-blade, and using void to drain any that came too close.

"You could try what the Messenger did with those projectiles of his!"

She knew exactly what he was talking about, and decided to give it a shot while adding a bit of spin to it. Crouching down, she extended her hands opposite of each other to form a 'T' shape, and then rotated in a circle. She formed solidified shards of void, and sent them flying from her hands. As she spun, they tore through the ranks of Fallen trying to get closer to her, and effectively helped with the crowd control.

"You need to focus on Skolas; I don't think he's gonna wait for you to finish with these guys before he moves on to you!"

She saw a shadow looming over her, and instantly agreed with Echo. Rolling to the side, she narrowly avoided the large fist of Skolas that he'd brought down to smash her with. She reached around for her rifle again, but found that it had skittered away a few feet when she had dove for safety. Skolas followed her gaze, and promptly brought a massive foot down on it, crushing it beneath his weight.

Echo spoke concernedly in her head, "Looks like you won't be using that anytime soon."

She shrugged. "Alright, Plan B then."

Matt wasn't the only one who knew how to blink.

She leapt up in the air towards Skolas, only to disappear before his eyes. He had less than a second to wonder where they hell she'd gone before she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and held on tight.

"I'm thinking that these glowing tubes are kind of important!" she yelled, and reached a hand forward to grasp one of them, and yank it out of its connection. Orange liquid spilled everywhere, and Skolas screamed in pain. He desperately reached around to pull her off as she continued to tear the tubes from their sockets.

Finally, he managed to snag her by her robes, and threw her off of him as he fell to a knee. His hands reached up to his face as she lined up a shot…

Using her only opportunity as she flew threw the air, she hurled a Nova Bomb at him, and felt great satisfaction in watching it explode all over his front. He screamed again, and within seconds had been reduced to a melting carcass of Fallen by the void effects.

Nearly flying off the edge, she used her thrusters to give her one little burst of momentum in the opposite way, and it slowed her down just so that she was close enough to grab the edge of the platform as she fell over it. Hanging on for dear life, she pulled herself up shakily.

The time-gates began pulsing erratically with their conflux dead, and they begin to wilt in on themselves. The army of Wolves began to glow white, and cracks spread all across their form. They clawed at their bodies as though something were tearing its way out from inside them, and finally they shattered and disintegrated, becoming nothing but ethereal vapor in the air.

The entire House of Wolves had been erased from this timeline, and Skolas was nothing but a purple and orange puddle of sludge on the ground. Not bad for just a minute or two of fighting.

The comms crackled to life. _"Well, that was… absolutely amazing."_

Petra seemed to be in total shock of the event, and it sounded like she didn't know how to react to it. Aria laughed. "Well, saving the world has been my job several times before. It's not anything new."

" _Sure as hell seems like it. Remind me to never get on your bad side."_

She laughed again. Man, today was a good day.

—X—

 _She was up on the mountain again. Snow was drifting by just like last time. The view was the same. She turned to look at where they had been last time, the stranger sitting upon the mountaintop._

 _They were not here._

 _ **The Last Hunter. What a lonesome title.**_

 _She turned around to see a small blue orb of light hovering on the ledge with her. It pulsated with a rhythm like a heartbeat._

 _ **I would have called them the Last Guardian, or true Guardian, considering the abysmal state the rest of the others are in. Nothing more than selfish individuals who like to keep the title of Guardian to stroke their ego.**_

 _It felt familiar, but also intimidating. She felt cautious around it, as though it could strike her at any moment. "Who are you?"_

 _ **You will find out soon. And you will not be happy.**_

 _The orb was both friend and foe; a benefactor, and someone pulling the strings._

 _ **All the pain they feel… it could be erased. I will not let this happen, I will not let you…**_

 _She felt like she was being probed, her soul being penetrated by this mysterious orb as it sought to look for weaknesses._

 _ **I have such plans for you.**_

 _Then the orb pulsed, everything faded to white, and she remembered no more._


	51. A Hint of Red

_**\- Ghost Fragment of [WARNING] ~identify( SIVA. MEM .GH404)**_

 _Two more scans and she could move on to the elevated grid. There wasn't really anything new other than the delta to sea level, but at less than 30% of the way through 2^128 scans, even a distinction without a difference could feel like a brand new shell._

 _"Cassiopeia!"_

 _So numb after months with just her own scans for company. She didn't even pick up on another Ghost being this close. "Obverse? Wait. I'm sorry. You're... Obsidian! Wow, how long has it been?"_

 _"Well, I mean..."_

 _"I know. It's been 6.8 years. It's just an expression."_

 _Obsidian floated closer. "That's okay. It HAS been a while. I guess you haven't found yours yet?"_

 _Cassiopeia projected glumness. "Not yet. But I haven't been looking on Mars for that long, at least! I'm optimistic."_

 _"You should be! I was just at the City last year. A lot more of us are starting to find our Guardians latel— what's that?"_

 _Cassiopeia resolved to run a full-range self-diagnostic before the next grid. Two Ghosts within twenty meters and she didn't sense either one? Something was off._

 _The new arrival chirped and spoke up. "Hello, you two! I'm glad ~identify(OBSIDIAN)~ to see a friendly face! I haven't been myself lately."_

 _Obsidian looked at Cassiopeia. He read as nervous. She probably did, too._

 _"I was beneath the Blind Watch for a while. A long ~ SIVA. MEM .GH404~ while. It was fun! There were puzzles. No one was alive down there, though."_

 _Cassiopeia's scan of the new Ghost returned nothing amiss. "Are you okay, friend?"_

 _"I'm great! Something got in me but the Light ~if (LIGHT) then WARNING~ burned it away. It's gone forever, now! ~consume: FAILURE replicate:FAILURE enhance:FAILURE~"_

 _There was silence for a full three seconds. Then Obsidian spoke up, his words coming quickly._

 _"Well, great to see you again, Cassiopeia! Good luck!" He zipped away._

 _Cassiopeia watched him disappear into the horizon. "TWO self-diagnostics," she muttered._

* * *

Aria walked through the hallway a bit worse for wear, yes, but definitely happy.

She had just taken down the Kell of Kells by herself, with no backup, no support, nothing. There had been all kinds of things thrown at her, like the Vault, time travel, and more Fallen than she cared to see in her lifetime. She loved being part of a team, loved Ash and Matt like family, but it had felt so damn good to accomplish something by herself.

A little bit of that happiness faded as she passed by Ash's room right next to hers, and heard crying within. Not loud crying, more like sniffling, but enough to where Aria was concerned. She went to knock, only to find that the door was unlocked. Cautiously, she entered to see both Matt and Ash sitting on the edge of the bed in some casual clothing, her head resting on his shoulder. They looked up at her upon hearing her footsteps.

"Oh… hi Aria." Ash's voice wavered a bit, though it seemed like she was trying to get herself under control for the Warlock's sake.

She nodded. "Hey Ash." She looked over at Matt. "You two alright?"

He nodded, but tiredly. He seemed drained. "Yeah. We've just had a long day is all. And she tried to nap, but apparently had a nightmare or something."

Aria looked down to see that their hands were intertwined, almost subconsciously. She gave a slight smile. It may have taken forever, but it looked like things had finally panned out. The signs had been obvious for everyone but them, so it was good to see at least something come to fruition.

Ash shook her head. "Not a nightmare, I just… I had a dream, and when I woke up I just felt so _sad_. Like the happiness had been sucked out of life." She looked like she wanted to say something, but paused. "I can't remember exactly what it was, it seems fuzzy."

The Exo looked up at Aria. "Sorry. Anyway, how did your hunt go? We found out what you've been up to, kicking Fallen ass and all. You win?"

She grinned and began to explain everything. From her summon to the Reef on the same night Crota was killed, to hunting the Wolves through Venus, her temporary alliance with the King Baron, and investigating the Vault of Glass. Matt and Ash listened, intrigued and interested the whole way through. Finally, she came to the part of the citadel.

"…and so I came out of the gravity well, and there's nothing but clouds around me. The next platform is way too far to make it, right? And I'm wondering where the hell I'm supposed to go, when this little blue orb of light appears, and hovers in the air right before a Vex-structure materializes-"

Matt jerked back. "What?"

Aria was taken aback by his reaction, but was even more surprised by some dawn of understanding appear on Ash's face too, which quickly morphed to fear. "What did I say?"

"Did it speak to you? Guide you?" He was very intense here, and she was a bit unsettled by his demeanor.

"Yeah, it did. I tried to touch it and it said something like, 'not yet', and 'we'll meet soon.' Any idea what that's about?"

"I remember my dream." Ash looked from one of her friends to the other. "I was on a mountain, and- I've had this dream before in the infirmary, but this time they weren't there-"

"Who wasn't where?" he asked.

"'The last… the last something or other, Guardian or… I don't know. But they were there in the first dream, and this time there was a blue light. And it spoke to me, talking about them. How they were in pain, and it could stop it." She shook slightly. "It said that it had plans for me, and that I wouldn't be happy when I found out who or what it was."

Matt grimaced, and then turned to Aria. "When I was stranded in the abyss, a blue orb of light appeared and guided me toward the exit. I barely escaped with my life as it is, but without its help I never would have made it out of there. It felt familiar, like I knew it or something. Did it sound like anyone to you?"

Aria nodded, now that he mentioned it. "Yeah, just a bit. Not sure who. I definitely think it sounded female though."

"I agree," voiced Ash.

Matt nodded. "Same here." Then he sighed, and clasped his hands together before looking at them intently.

"Alright, here's what's going to happen. We're going to warn Scorch, Dawn, and Eager about this too. So far, we're the only ones who know about it. But I'm not sure how benevolent this thing is, if it 'has plans' for Ash. I think that it's only been helping us survive because it needs us for something. And whatever it is, I don't like it."

They nodded their agreement, and he acknowledged it with a nod of his own. "Something big is coming. I just hope that we're ready for it."

* * *

END OF "TOOTH AND CLAW"

TO BE CONTINUED IN "GUARDIANS NEVER DIE" BOOK 5

"THE TAKEN WAR"

* * *

 _ **A/N: I told you guys that "Tooth and Claw" would be shorter. But hey, Aria got a bit of the spotlight all to herself, though that's not to say that other characters didn't get their fair share as well!**_

 _ **We now know the origin of the Exos, how they came about, and the mystery behind Clovis Bray. But the story is far from over. Hopefully, none of you have figured out my master plan yet, but I do think that some of you may start putting the pieces together with the hints I've dropped, Ash's memories, the dream sequences, the orb, and this epilogue's Grimoire entry.**_

 _ **It may be a bit before I start on "The Taken War", so just be patient everyone! I have other projects to work on, school to excel in, and life in general to deal with. Thank you all for sticking with me, and here's to hoping you continue to do so! Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	52. The Dawning

.

* * *

 _ **\- The Dawning**_

 _Pass me those lanterns, would you?" Eva said. "And that wrapping paper. There's so much left to do."_

 _"They drive their Sparrows on the edge of the abyss, not looking at that Darkness... laughing..."_

 _"Laughter can be better than food. We must make time to celebrate, even when we are surrounded by Darkness. Or we lose hope. And hope is important: it brings us together and keeps us marching through the freezing cold."_

 _"So much pretending, Eva. I can't pretend. Those days are gone."_

 _"Do you think I spent a week coaxing Ikora into making the Dawning Crystal just to pretend? Who will save us from the Darkness? The despairing Guardian or the joyful one? Love and joy, Eris—that will save us. This is how I show my love."_

 _"Then I wish you a happy Dawning, Eva."_

 _"I wish that for all of us."_

* * *

Snow fell gently through the air, covering the tower in a layer of white powder. Icicles hung from railings and from overhangs, glistening with water-slicked ice in the bit of light that managed to break through the cold fog around the city.

On such a day, Ash was beginning to stir from a peaceful sleep in bed. Her optics began to slowly power up as she 'blinked' out of habit, and allowed her processors to warm up. Smiling, she rotated her head to look next to her say hello to-

-No one?

The other side of the bed was empty, absent of her usual partner. She looked around the room, wondering if Matt was just getting ready or performing morning tasks, but he was completely gone from the room.

Puzzled, she eased herself out of bed and began to put on some clothes. She was about to pull on her usual black undersuit, but noticed a chair with something on it. Curiously, she moved to examine it. It was a slim but warm jacket, a nice burlywood color with blue highlights that matched her eyes. Definitely her style. She noticed a pair of new blue pants as well, ones with intricate markings and decorative patterns.

Knowing the only person who could have left these here, she smiled and began to pull them on. Within a minute or so, she looked at herself in the mirror, admiring the new garments. He definitely knew her tastes, that was for sure. Satisfied, she walked out the door to fulfill her second objective of the day.

She stepped across the hall, and knocked on Aria's door. It wasn't too long before the Awoken girl opened it, revealing herself to also be dressed in festive clothing. "Matt?"

"Matt," Ash confirmed, answering her question as to who had left the new apparel in their rooms.

Aria examined herself and her new white coat with maroon accents. "I don't even know how he got in, let alone how he did so without waking me or Echo up."

Ash shrugged cheerfully. "He's a Hunter. It's kind of his job to be unseen and mysterious." Beckoning towards Aria, she began to walk out of the hallway. "C'mon, let's go find him."

The Warlock followed her, and together they made their way towards the courtyard. Upon exiting the Guardians' chambers, they found a peculiar sight awaiting them.

Guardians were all over the courtyard, looking up and around the plaza in awe. As the two followed their gazes, their own jaws dropped.

Strings of lights had been strung from the tops of the vaults, swirling around like little tornados of joy. That stretched above the air of the courtyard as well, connecting with the second level balcony above the chambers. Yellow and white lanterns hung in the air, floating with the snowy breeze and breathing new life into the frosty air. Ribbons of pristine white and gold were wrapped around the railings of the main veranda, with little bells attached under them, making a pretty chiming sound every time the wind blew.

"Liking the decorations, huh?" Both Ash and Aria jumped at the voice of Matt right next to them. Turning to look between them, he had sandwiched himself between them without either of them noticing. He was wearing his normal warm apparel, though she noticed it was noticeable more covered with snow.

"Did you do all this?" she asked, gesturing at the fantastic display of decorations that the other Guardians continued to marvel at.

He grinned. "I may have had a hand in it. Merry Dawning!" He pulled both of them in for a big hug, while simultaneously shaking his head. "Nope, that just… that just doesn't sound right."

Ash laughed, and looked around again. "It's beautiful." Indeed, the array of color was enough to lift anyone's spirits, and Matt's face lit up with joy from her praise.

Aria looked at the two of them and smirked knowingly. Deciding that their time might be better spent alone, she shyly slinked off to join the mass of Guardians in the courtyard.

Ash nestled herself into him, each of them feeling the warmth of the other radiating off them, and contently watching the childlike wonderment of the others. She was proud of him; he seemed to do something different for the Dawning every year, but he'd topped himself this time around. He said it was his favorite holiday, and it sure showed.

Unexpectedly, he snapped his fingers loudly. "I knew I forgot something! One second, it's in our- my room," he corrected, quickly spitting out the words. She giggled slightly at his embarrassment upon noticing his slip-up, but said nothing else. Truthfully speaking, she'd be blushing if she weren't made of metal. Little did he know that she liked what he'd just called it.

"Here, follow me." He took off without her, leaving her curious as to what he could possibly be getting. Deciding to play along, she jogged back towards his room. He had just disappeared into it when she arrived, and she swung the door open to see him sitting with a grin on the bed.

She tilted her head in confusion, and walked several steps forward. "What did you-?"

He held up a hand, and she stopped moving. "Ah, ah, ah, I'm afraid you've stepped into an ancient trap from centuries ago." He pointed at the ceiling.

Following the direction of his finger, she saw something hanging on the ceiling that hadn't been there when she'd woken up. It was a little snippet of a plant, not much more than a few leaves and white berries. A small red bow was tied to it, keeping it attached to a string hanging from the ceiling. "What is that?"

He shrugged with a sly smile. "Mistletoe. Instead of the Dawning, we had Christmas in my first life. Kind of similar, but not really. Anyway, there was an old tradition that surrounded it."

She looked coyly at him. "And what would that tradition be?"

"It's said," he explained while standing up from the bed and walking over to her, "that when two people walk under mistletoe, they're supposed to kiss."

She noticed him now standing next to her, and she made a 'tsk' noise as she understood the gist of what was happening. "Oh dear, look at where you've stepped. I suppose there's only one way out from under here?"

"Only one way that I know of." He leaned in close, and she closed her eyes eagerly, enjoying the cute moment between them that he'd set up. They shared a kiss, and then locked gazes with one another. She smiled warmly.

"I love you."

He nodded. "Oh, I know."

She waited for a few moments before rolling her eyes and punching him playfully on the arm. "Oh, come on! You can't do that!"

He laughed, but relented. "I love you too, Ash." He leaned in again, and planted another kiss which she enthusiastically received.

"Merry Dawning."

* * *

 _ **A/N: I know you're still waiting on The Taken War to arrive, but with the new update and general holiday spirit, I felt that I had to at least write something for you guys. So here's a short (but sweet) chapter to tide you guys over the holiday season. Merry Christmas, everyone! And a [insert festive adjective] Dawning, Guardians!**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	53. THE LAST HUNTER (Book 5)

Death.

For many, it is a concept to be feared, to be respected. It is the ender of relationships, of knowledge, of everything that you were and will have ever been. They see it as nothing but a monster, the blades ready at a moment's notice to cut clean through the fragile string you call your life.

For others, it is but the next great step in the journey of existence. When it is time for them to shed their physical bond with the world, they do so gladly and without hesitation. They know not what waits beyond, but hope that there is yet more to discover, to experience, to explore. They are happy to go on.

Some simply consider it an escape; a way to flee from the pain of living, the hurt that comes from simply being alive. When life becomes too much to bear, they welcome the embrace of death regardless of what may follow after. For them, they do not care about meeting it prematurely, or if there is more. They only desire for their suffering to cease.

The one thing that all agree upon is that death is a universal truth; just as every being has a beginning, there must also come an end. Everyone prepares for it in different ways, but the result is always the same. No matter the person, no matter the status, no matter your wealth, riches, family, friends, everyone finds themselves in the ground one day.

But that was before the Traveler.

With the Traveler came ways to extend your lifespan further than any had ever lived in history. But this wasn't enough, people wanted immortality. To be able to live on without fear of aging, sickness, and the trivial nuances that come with being human. Boundaries were pushed further than they ever should have been, and scientists worked themselves to the bone to find the secret of eternal life.

When the Exos were created, many believed them to be the next step of human evolution. They foresaw an opportunity to live forever, and they grasped onto that hope tightly.

They were the foolish ones.

One never considers the potential complications that arise from the inability to age. As the years pressed on, Exos went from being perceived as the ultimate accomplishment to being treated as inferior. The instinctive partiality that humans have towards their own organic bodies led to a complete impression overhaul of the metallic race. From hero to zero, Exos were shunned and cast out from society, nothing more than a people of second rate quality.

Humanity never once asked themselves, in the several centuries it took for Exos to reach this point, how the Exos perceptions of humanity had become. To see the world shape itself around them, and live on. To see humanity praise them, and live on. To watch their loved ones die, and live on. To be an outcast, and live on. To have to constantly rectify the memories in their mind that they had once been flesh and bone like the organics of hate they saw before them … and live on.

There must have been no greater torture than the one the Exos endured, as they watched the entirety of the rest of their species slowly turn against them, growing more and more dissatisfied with their inability to age or fall ill. To hold such a burden would surely destroy someone, and so they began to wipe their minds clean. They purged themselves of the good memories before, so that they would be unable to compare their miserable existences to anything better. It is impossible to miss something if you've never experienced it.

Unknown to all, there were few Exos who never wiped. Who never gave in to the pressures and prejudices against them. Who endured everything. Who forgot nothing.

There were four.

Three were brought back from their previous demise to serve the will of the Darkness, the entity that had destroyed their makers, their tormentors and tyrants. They did not forgive.

One never fell.

The one never wavered in their faith for humanity to become better than it had once been. They stayed true to their belief that all could redeem themselves. And though it took millennia, they were rewarded for their trust.

The Guardians saw to that.

At long last, the one witnessed the blossoming view of peace. Tranquility reigned throughout the system as humanity reclaimed their lost worlds, as they fought back the tendrils of Darkness that had ensnared them, pushing it back until light broke through the barrier of shadows that had plagued them for so long. Finally, the Light had won.

And in a single moment, it was all taken away.

Once more, instability tore through the ranks of humanity and the hope for a better future was cast deep into the depths of uncertainty. The faith that the one had in humanity was shattered, broken after seeing how far people can fall no matter how high they rise.

You must ask yourself; how long can one being go with nothing to sustain them but hope, only to have it shredded before their eyes?

And then consider this; what happens when an immortal being wishes to die?

—X—

 _The Spark, restored._

 _The Vault of Glass, shattered. Atheon destroyed, Kaine along with it._

 _Crota, thrust upon his own blade, and the Deathsingers scattered._

 _Oryx, eaten away as his own sword-logic was used against him._

 _No more._

 _With every obstacle, every figurehead of the Darkness, the Guardians and the Light grow stronger. Their arrogance grows as the Darkness is beaten back one minion at a time. That perspective must be corrected._

 _Humanity will see its doom in due time. But attention must be diverted from the long game, and focused upon those most likely to stand in the way of progress._

 _The Legends._

 _Those six who rise up to fight again and again, unyielding and undying. Their refusal to perish only encourages its hatred further, and it decides that they have persisted long enough._

 _The Fallen's greed has revealed a new contender for humanity's extinction. The red diamonds shine bright as their tendrils and flowers blossom and spread across the winter landscape. It allows them this, for the Darkness has one last service to require of them._

 _A soul persists long after death either one of two ways; either their Light will illuminate their resting place for years to come, or the Darkness within will stain their death point with their final mark upon the world. And either, with the right manipulation, can be brought back._

 _The metal human shrieks and cries for help. He screams for a lifeline, to be saved from his destiny. Does he not know how magnificent his fate is? How honored he should feel to be a part of the Darkness' vengeance?_

 _O', he bucks and kicks as though he has a choice. He does not yet know how pure he will be made, how the ending of his life will make room for another._

 _A thick cloud of shadow pierces his body, and he gives his most piercing scream yet. It gives the Darkness satisfaction to know the agony he must feel as his very soul is purged from existence, ripped away from his own body and cast into the void. Do not worry, o' metal insect. Your body will be house to my most treasured instrument._

 _The body lies still, no more than a shell now. This time, the cloud that pierces it a swarm, not black but red with a weapon of the humans' own making. They insert themselves, bury themselves deep in the framework and breathe life back into the construct._

 _With such a vacant home available, a new soul enters its place. The eyes of amethyst flash for a moment to blue, and then are quickly overtaken by red. They glare at the crowd around them, looking for understanding. They see once more._

 _Red._

 _Red._

 _Everything is red._


	54. Dawn of a New Era

_1.1 I'm serious-_

 _1.2 There's nothing serious about it._

 _1.1 Well, then why won't you explain it?_

 _1.2 Because there's nothing TO explain. It's just a myth, some story that other Keepers have been telling for years. As far back as I can remember, actually._

 _1.1 …_

 _1.2 … You're really not gonna drop this, are you?_

 _1.1 I will if you just tell me. Everybody else seems to know about it, and I don't like not being in the loop-_

 _1.2 Alright, alright. I'll tell you. You're young, so I'll humor you, but … keep in mind, this is a touchy subject._

 _1.1 …_

 _1.2 (sigh) A long time ago, there were warriors of the Light._

 _1.1 Like us._

 _1.2 No, not like us. They fought across the solar system, against the Darkness and its armies. They were pathfinders, adventurers, soldiers, and more._

 _1.1 That sounds like a pretty nice myth._

 _1.2 That's not the made-up part. They were called Guardians._

 _1.1 Wait, really?_

 _1.2 Yes, really. Pay attention. Now, these Guardians were the only force protecting humanity from certain destruction._

 _1.1 What kind of destruction?_

 _1.2 We don't really know anymore. As you know, stories grow more and more exaggerated the older they are. I think there's even one that we came face to face with gods, you know. It's just stuff that people say._

 _1.1 Alright._

 _1.2 Well, this is where the legends start. They say that at some point, they weren't needed anymore. They must have won, or something._

 _1.1 The Star says that-_

 _1.2 (scoff) Well, don't tell the Star this, but I'm pretty sure most of what they say is nonsense. Just propaganda, fanatic preaching, and cover ups. Only reason we tolerate them is because there'd be war otherwise. And no one wants that._

 _1.1 Right._

 _1.2 In any matter, the Guardians were disbanded. It's fuzzy why, and I'm pretty sure that the Star's to blame for that lack of information. But the fact is that they broke up, and things changed._

 _1.1 Changed … how?_

 _1.2 Well, two of them were kept around. 'Warlocks' and 'Titans'. Scholars and guards. They needed them, to keep peace. But something happened, some kind of event, and eventually they just kind of disappeared. People are still able to manipulate light, but not to the degree that they could._

 _1.1 Is that us?_

 _1.2 Yeah, that's us. The Keepers. Tales say that Guardians could crack mountains apart with their fists, and use weapons of immeasurable power that nobody has seen since._

 _1.1 Hold on, you said two._

 _1.2 Yeah. There was a third class, Hunters. They were the ones that ventured into the wilds, who forged new trails and reclaimed lost land. But the people didn't need adventure, they needed safety. And so Hunters were kind of just … banished. Maybe they chose to leave, maybe they were forced. But they were gone._

 _1.1 This is a lot of lead-up for one question-_

 _1.2 I'm getting to that. At least you know the context. Now, the legend you're asking about; the Last Hunter._

 _1.1 Yeah._

 _1.2 Well, it's been said that there still exists a Hunter somewhere; one who follows the old path, a true Guardian. Someone who lives out in the wild, hiding from something. People 'claim' to have seen them, but …_

 _1.1 (whistle)_

 _1.2 They say that they come to the peak every generation or so, with decades in between. No one knows why, just that they sit at the top and watch the world as it turns._

 _1.1 That's some story._

 _1.2 Exactly, it's just that; a story. The Guardians are all dead. Nothing more, nothing less._

 _1.1 So what's with the legend then?_

 _1.2 Because people need stability, some sort of sense that everything is going to be alright. Can you imagine if a Guardian was still around, silently watching over everything? It lets people think that perhaps some remnant of a better time still exists, and that maybe things won't always be so bad._

 _1.1 … Well, if they were real, I'd feel pretty sorry for them._

 _1.2 Why's that?_

 _1.1 I can't imagine a more lonely existence than one where all of my family and friends were gone. Can you?_

 _1.2 (grunt) Yeah, I guess you're right. I wouldn't wish that kind of hell on anyone._

* * *

MANY YEARS LATER

* * *

She was alive.

Clara didn't know why she was alive, or even how for that matters. As she tried to recall her lost memories, she became more acutely aware of her surroundings.

Blistering cold wind blew across the white powder of snow that covered her body. She could hear the ghoulish howling of the wind as it swept through the trees, shaking their foliage and adding to the cacophony of her present setting.

She could feel the snow between her fingertips as she gently pushed them through the snow, feeling their biting nip against every inch of her phalanges. She dug her hands in deep, testing them, and then pulled them out of the frost once more as bits and pieces of the past began to return to her.

The whirr of her internal mechanisms was all too noticeable as she began to pull herself out of the snow, and onto the ground. She held her arms out in front of her, examining them.

White and silver as ever, protected from grime and other degradation by the ice that had frozen her. But that begged the question; why was she no longer frozen at all?

She knew very little, but she mentally listed them anyway.

She had wiped her mind of all memories except for a set of instructions and her name.

Her instructions had been to venture into the cold of the wilderness, and let herself freeze to death.

And she was Clara. Besides her name, she didn't really have any other-

"Are you alright?"

A rather synthetic voice was heard behind her, and she spun around to face the source. Some kind of device floated in the air, shaped like a polyhedron with a single blue eye in its center. It bobbed in the air, awaiting her response.

She performed an quick analysis of her vocal processors, and found that they were working at full capacity. She nodded graciously. "Yes, I'm fine."

The entity performed a small sort of 'nod' by dipping its front portion low. "Glad to hear it. The snow must have preserved your systems fairly well, I just had to thaw you out."

She looked around, still at a loss for how to continue from this point. It didn't seem to take notice, and continued speaking. "You're lucky that you're an Exo, I wouldn't have taken the chance if you were organic. But everyone knows that Exos aren't part of the Star, so-"

She looked back at it. "The 'Star'?"

It narrowed its eye a bit. "You don't know? How long were you buried under there?"

She couldn't' recall. "A long time," she admitted.

The thing emitted a blue grid of light that scanned her, leading her to believe it was analyzing her. "Your memory banks don't appear to be damaged. You must have wiped them yourself. I wonder how much …" The machine trailed off before focusing back on her and tilting to one side out of curiosity. "Do you know what I am? What you are?"

Forming her features into one of a thoughtful expression, the Exo pondered that query. "I know that I'm an Exo, that I wiped my mind and … I traveled here to die."

The object seemed taken aback. "Well, that's … nice …?"

She shook her head. "I can't remember why I would have, nor can I remember any previous knowledge about … well, anything." She looked at the floating polyhedron. "Mind enlightening me a bit?"

It seemed unsure, but relented. "Well, I'm a Ghost."

She expected to hear more, but it seemed to be done. "That's all?"

It sounded nonchalant. "That's all that there really is to me, I guess. I've heard that a long time ago, we had some greater purpose but I'm pretty young. I wouldn't know about any of that. Nowadays, I just spend my time surviving."

That intrigued her. "Surviving? Is something after us?"

It shook its body. "Us? No. Me? Yes. Mostly the Star, but we're not exactly welcome anywhere else either. We've just got a bad name in general."

"Why's that?"

It tipped its sides upward in a shrug. "Don't ask me. Like I said, I don't really know."

Well, that was a bit more information that she could work with. She decided to pry for more. "Do you have a name?"

It shook itself from side to side. "No, just Ghost is fine."

Ghost. Simple enough. Its voice was easily discernible as a young male, leading her to think of it as more of a 'he'; but the real behavior she noticed was the caution he exercised. He sounded like he was willing to help, but definitely on guard in case events turned sour. Evidently, he wasn't completely inexperienced to the danger he seemed to fear.

He floated closer. "What about you? What's your name?"

Her mind went back to what she'd remembered earlier, and she was grateful for a sense of identity. "Clara-1."

Ghost widened his eye. "Only one wipe? Man, the lowest I've ever seen was three."

It did strike her as peculiar. She knew not what she had wiped for, just that this was the only time she had. What would have pushed her to do that?

Looking around, another problem began to present itself. Since she had no real idea of what was going on, let alone where she was, she had no direction. No sense of purpose to guide her.

Ghost noticed. "You alright?"

She furrowed her metallic brow in frustration. "It's just- I don't know what to do, where to go."

He nodded. "Yeah, disorientation is pretty normal from what I've heard of Exos." He looked around, pinpointing a direction of some kind. "Well, there isn't any real civilization out here; but I know a place that might be able to help you." He moved forward a few feet, and then looked back towards Clara. "Just keep going this way, and you should find it. Be warned, you might have to do a bit of climbing."

Unexpectedly, he began to float away. She called out to him, "Ghost? Where are you going?"

He looked confusedly at her. "No place in particular, I just thought you would want to get going."

She wasn't thrilled about the idea of trekking by herself towards some place she knew the vague direction of. "If it's not too much to ask, could you help me? I don't think I can find this place on my own."

He seemed hesitant. "Look, I'm sorry about your situation … but like I said, we Ghosts aren't really a welcome sight anywhere. They might not care, but they just might. That's why we tend to avoid humanity in general, we can't risk running into someone who has a particular dislike of us."

"Please," she pleaded, "you're the only person I know. Just guide me there, and you can leave. I just don't want to get lost and freeze again."

It was true; maybe her previous iteration had wanted to die, but that didn't mean that she did, especially without knowing more about why.

He paused, and looked at her for a few moments. After a few seconds of silence, he gave a reluctant sigh. "Alright, I'll take you there. But that's it. After that, I'm gone."

She nodded her head gratefully. "Of course, that's all I'm asking."

Another moment passed, and then Ghost began to hover down the path he'd marked. "Well, let's get going then."

She followed after him, intent on getting some answers while they travelled.

* * *

 _ **A/N: To any readers who aren't on the main GND book, this story is a sequel in a series of Destiny stories I've written. You can access them on my stories page, under "Guardians Never Die". Characters and events will be referenced that you will not know unless you've read the previous books.**_

 _ **To the rest of the readers, here we are. Yes, I'm kicking off my swan song of sorts for this series. I'll try to keep updates consistent, but I have a very busy life, so you'll have to excuse me if chapters take a while to write.**_

 _ **In other news, I've created a community for this series! For both my Titanfall series and this one, I've decided to create archives of stories where characters and events from the main series can be shared in your stories. TL;DR You guys are welcome to write fan stories of GND and have them added to the archive (what would you call that? Fan-Fan-Fiction? I dunno)**_

 _ **If you'd like to do such a thing, simply access it under the 'Communities' section of my author page, and you'll be able to find the archive. To add a story to it, simply PM me about your idea/story, and I'll look into getting it added to the archive as a non-canon entry.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	55. The Peak

_My brothers and sisters._

 _Let us give thanks for the dawn of a new day, revealing in the wholesome gift that is life once more._

 _In these hard times, it is more important than ever that we remain unified in our conviction, ever hesitant to trust the words of those who would slander us. The Keepers are not a threat to us, only our faith. Remember that a side should always be chosen, in stark contrast to their continued neutrality. While we may coexist, it is only a matter of time before one side rises above the other; and it will be a glorious day when we look to them below, and offer forgiveness graciously._

 _To our supporters in the City, still oppressed by the naiveté of their neighbors who continue to hold the Traveler in such an esteemed position, we offer our sympathies. Remain strong, for one day its Light will not blind them from the truth any longer. They will then see that shadow is the true form of the universe, and light is nothing more than an anomaly that resists the path of conformity._

 _To the Keepers who stand firm against us, we do not hate you. We hate that which flows throughout your veins, but that is through no fault of your own. One cannot blame a child for the sins of their parent. Instead, learn to control it as we have; do not let it guide you. If there should be a master, then it should be you, and its will should bend to your own; not vice versa. Only then will you see the proper way to humanity's ascension, and how we will gain the power we had once more._

 _And to those who ignore our teachings, and instead choose to defend the Traveler still; a day is coming when you will no longer have a broken God to watch over you. And when it has abandoned you, we will be waiting._

 _ **\- Opening to this morning's sermon of the Trinary Star**_

* * *

"Okay, so you came from this orb, this Traveler," repeated Clara, trying to cement understanding in her mind. "What exactly is it?"

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?" chirped the Ghost, still ahead of her as they hiked up the side of the mountain.

When he'd first told her that there'd be a lot of climbing, she hadn't though that he'd meant that so literally. But, for the last few hours, they'd been steadily ascending the mountain. Apparently, whatever place he was talking about was high in the ranges. It was also understandably cold, so she'd shut off her neuro-sensors a while back. Until she could exchange her nudity for some warm clothes, she didn't want to feel herself freezing in the wintry air.

It had been several hours, hours that would have gone by painfully slowly if nothing entertaining were to take place. So, naturally she'd given a few attempts to kill the time.

"Well, I need a lot of answers," she quipped back. "Tends to happen when you wipe every memory from your mind."

He gave an annoyed sigh, but explained anyway. "It's a large white orb that hangs over the City. And before you ask, the City is where most of, if not all of, humanity used to live."

"Used to?"

He gave a small hum. "Yeah. There's way more human settlements around, now that the Darkness isn't a threat."

With every response, she was given a new question to ask. "What exactly was the Darkness? And who fought it off?"

"I'm not sure. It's odd; I know that I was created by the Traveler and its light, but nothing else about it. Just that the Darkness was its antithesis, and it's gone now. As for who fought it off, I've heard quite a few stories."

Looking ahead, she could see a thin pass that connected the tops of the mountain in front of her with the one she was on. Taking a few tentative steps onto it, she distracted herself with more conversation. "And what would those stories be?"

"Well, for starters, one is that Ghosts and humanity had a very different relationship back then." He flew around her body, and she became nervous that he'd accidentally bump her off or something. "They formed a bond between one Ghost and one person who was then known as a Guardian. As the name implies, they fought the Darkness for the rest of humanity, to keep them from going extinct."

"Are we still in danger of becoming extinct?" asked Clara, ever curious.

Ghost gave a sigh of somberness. "No, but things still aren't that great either."

She waited for him to elaborate. "Ghost?"

"See, even if you guys aren't fighting for your lives anymore, it seems like there's a lot of you guys fighting each other instead. Most people try to stay neutral, but it's becoming very hard to do that nowadays. You have people who still revere the Traveler as a savior, like they believe it used to be." He scoffed. "And then you have the Star, who curse its Light and say that it's the source of all of humanity's problems."

"You've mentioned the Star a few times now," she remarked. "I still don't-"

He interrupted, opting to answer her question before she answered it. "They're a cult of sorts called the Trinary Star, though nowadays they're much more influential than a simple cult. They think that without the Traveler, humanity wouldn't have been dealt with so harshly by the Darkness. Therefore, the Traveler is directly responsible for humanity's near extinction and its current state."

As her metallic feet crunched in the snow, she gave that line of thought some consideration. "What do you think?"

He snorted. "I don't think anything. Maybe it was responsible, maybe it wasn't. Frankly, the Trinary Star could be completely right; but it doesn't make me want to hand myself over to them anytime soon."

"They're the ones hunting you?"

"Not really hunting," Ghost confessed, "but if they saw me, they wouldn't hesitate to destroy me. Like I said, they hate the Light, and I was literally created by it. That's why whenever a new Ghost is created, they're cast out of the City. It tries to remain as neutral as possible, so the people can't have us in there with them. I'm sure that if the Star had their way, each Ghost would be immediately destroy upon their 'birth', but thankfully that's not the case."

"So let me get this straight," she said. "Most of humanity is pretty neutral regarding the Traveler, but there are those who both revere it and hate it. But who enforces anything? If these 'Guardians' aren't around anymore, who defends anything?"

"That would be the Keepers," replied Ghost. "They're able to use the light, like Guardians once could. But they don't fight for or against the Traveler, they just try to keep people from killing each other. As it is, they don't fight the Star unless it provokes them or antagonizes a settlement. In turn, the Star doesn't push its luck, and they keep to themselves most of the time. That doesn't mean they don't hold any power; they just prefer working behind the scenes."

He looked around at the swirling wind and snow around them. "But, the temperament of both sides has … escalated, as of late."

He'd placed a bit of emphasis in his wording, suggesting to her that perhaps the situation was more dire than he was letting on. "Why?"

"Just some old legend, a story." He looked at her, his blue eye glowing through the mist and fog that shrouded the mountaintop. "But, sometimes stories have a bit of truth to them. Or people like to believe they do."

"What story would this be?"

"Some people think that there's still a Guardian around, a _real_ one, not the diluted forms of one like the Keepers. And what's more, it's a Hunter."

"I don't know what that means," she admitted.

He twirled in the air contentedly. Obviously, he wasn't as opposed to conversation as he'd let on. "Well, Keepers nowadays are made up of what people used to call 'Warlocks' and 'Titans', scholars and guards. But there was a type of Guardian called a 'Hunter' that didn't help with security; instead, they were explorers who ventured off into unknown places, taking risks in the wild in exchange for potential territory. But once humanity effectively restricted themselves here on Earth, they were … well, they disappeared."

"So, it's a story on top of stories," she concluded. "A legend that may or may not be real, that's based off of these 'Guardians' that may or not be real either."

Ghost chuckled. "Yeah, there's definitely a lot of speculation when it comes to this sort of stuff. But there might be some truth to this one. In fact, that's the only reason why anybody's even remotely anxious."

"Really?"

"Like I said, this is all speculation," the Ghost iterated, "but there's some evidence to support the existence of this individual. For starters, the sightings are usually reported all around the same time. Sure, you get people who say that 'they've seen the Last Hunter', but the number really spikes at specific times. And then there's the correlation between the sightings and some unusual data."

She tilted her head. "Data?"

"There's still a lot of sensors that the City uses to monitor the planet. Now, we Ghosts can tap into these sensors at different relays spread throughout the different continents, and we can access the readings. And," he said with some warmth in his voice, "we Ghosts haven't entirely resigned ourselves to the life we currently live. Apparently, there are a few of us who want to change things, and they love the idea that there's still an original Guardian around. So, they go about trying to prove what they can."

Something appeared on the right side of her vision, and she freaked out a moment before the Ghost calmed her down. "Don't worry! I'm just superimposing a few charts into your optics."

Now that she understood what it was, she relaxed. The Ghost continued to explain the meaning behind it. "See, that's a timeline of the last few decades. Each dot is a claim that someone has made in regards to seeing the Last Hunter. Notice how they clump up in some odd years?"

She saw what he was talking about; while there were some interspersed through years at random, there were larger collections of them in the same relative time over a number of years. They didn't seem to have any pattern in which year they appeared, just that more sightings were reported. No more than one or two in any other year, but those spots would jump up to ten or so. Quite unusual, if it was truly nothing.

"Now, this is where it gets serious," said the Ghost in an excited tone. "See, remember the sensors we have access to? Well, one of the data points deals with temporal anomalies, or time distortions."

She jerked her head back in surprise. "Well, this suddenly became very complicated."

He ignored her. "Obviously, these sensors were put into place for a reason. Especially ones that have to do with temporal energy. No matter how many times the Star claims they hold no truth, there's just no reason why humans would have put them there if they weren't aware of these anomalies existing." He hovered in front of her as they walked. "Now, these are the data points for when bigger concentrations of temporal energy are recorded."

He overlaid a second chart on the existing one, this time with squares instead of dots. "And if you line them up with sightings that happened in the same year …"

The single dots that had no purpose or weight disappeared from the chart, but the clusters of ten or so at a time remained. What was more, they aligned perfectly with the years that temporal anomalies had been present. "The last alignment like that was almost seventy years ago, way before any information about this was being leaked by Ghosts."

She nodded her head as the charts disappeared. "Okay, so there's some evidence to suggest that they exist. But why's that riling so many people up?"

"Because," said the Ghost, sounding like he was grinning, "additional anomalies were recorded and leaked just over two weeks ago."

Her eyes widened slightly as it dawned on her. "You mean …"

"Yeah. If the Last Hunter _is_ real, they're going to be appear soon."

"I'd imagine that's a pretty exciting prospect."

"Understatement of the century right there."

She gestured to the air around them. "Well, do you guys have any idea where they're supposed to be? Where anyone's going to see them?"

"Yup," he replied happily, "we're almost there."

—X—

She wasn't exactly sure what she'd been expecting, but it hadn't been this.

They walked through structures built onto the mountain, ruins of some ancient purpose that had long since been fulfilled. Evidently, they hadn't been completely forgotten; snow had not covered them, which meant that they were taken care of to some degree. Was there activity here?

"Is this the place?" she asked Ghost curiously. He pulsed slightly.

"No, this is just an old observatory that was … repurposed," he decided upon. "Now, it's more of a common area for those who aren't actively in the temple. But nobody's over here right now, I'd imagine that they're all talking up ahead."

"Temple?" she questioned, but she didn't have to wait long for an answer. Looming suddenly out of the fog was a set of large doors, heavy and unyielding. Emblazoned on them was an emblem of some kind; it appeared to be two gauntleted fists gripping an double-bladed axe, all of which was overlaid on a shield.

"Yes, this used to be a temple of significant importance centuries ago. Welcome to Felwinter peak."

With a loud groaning noise, the doors began to suddenly open towards them. Taking a defensive stance, Clara shifted herself subconsciously, waiting to see whether to fight or flee. Ghost moved back a bit, and subtly hovered closer to her for protection.

Behind the door, someone stood waiting for them. The wore metal armor that looked much like a knight's, with a helmet that matched. Only two black holes had been left for eyes, the rest was a single face-plate. Draped over their shoulders was a wool cape, heavy and fluttering every so slightly in the wind.

Once the massive entrance was free of any obstacles, they stepped forward cautiously.

"Most people are here for the gathering, but I take it that's not the case with you …?" they inferred cautiously. It was a man's voice, rough but not menacing.

"The gathering?" asked Ghost. One look from the man in his direction, and darted back behind Clara. Still, he answered the Ghost's question.

"A lot of people have been showing up here in light of the stuff your kind have been releasing to the public," he muttered to the polyhedron. "Can't ever remember a time when it's been this busy here, so thanks for making my job harder."

Clara decided to answer in place of Ghost's silence. "He found me frozen out in the wild. I don't know much about anything at the moment, other than I wiped my memory beforehand. As you can understand, I'm a little disoriented and I just want to find somewhere safe."

He looked her metallic form up and down, realizing that she was 'naked'. "Not a problem." Reaching one hand up, he unfastened the cape from his armor and held it out to her. "Here, I'd imagine that you want to be warm … as well as uh, cover up a bit."

She took the garment gratefully, and wrapped it around her form. Turning her neuro-sensors back on, she was stunned into silence by the frozen ground beneath her feet; but the cape was indeed quite warm. She nodded in thanks.

"Come on," he said, gesturing for her to follow. "I'm sure we've got some spare sets of garments in the temple."

She hurried after him as he led her across a wooden bridge, also swaying from side to side in the breezy altitude. She had a momentary fear that it might tip or fall, but the man didn't seem too worried, so she followed his example. Behind her, Ghost cautiously trailed behind.

"I'm Dirk, one of the Keepers around here," he said. "Anyone gives you trouble, just come to me. They shouldn't, but we got a lot of people I don't know here. Better safe than sorry."

"Are they all here for the Hunter?"

Dirk turned to look at her. "So you do know a bit, huh?" He snickered. "Yeah, they are. And they're all gonna be mighty disappointed, too. I've been here for nearly twenty years now, never seen anything along the likes of 'the Last Hunter'." He shook his head frustratedly. "I've also never seen a crowd this large here, so it's gonna be a real pain in the ass trying to get them all to go home."

Now on the other side of the bridge, she understood why. Ghost's data had indicated that a maximum of maybe ten or so people were here at any given time; but she could see that that number had been easily surpassed. There had to be more than a hundred people around the courtyard, though she couldn't be sure of an exact number.

"Some of them are Keepers from other provinces, others are just citizens that are here to decide for themselves if it's true or not," Dirk explained.

"How long have they been here?" she asked in awe.

"Earliest one was about a week ago, most came in the last three days or so. They all mind their own business for the most part, and go back to sleep in their ships, or on the ground if they don't have one. Had one bastard who came here on nothing but a sparrow and a ripped tunic." He shook his head while chuckling.

In the center of the courtyard was a fire pit, one that she eagerly walked towards. Here, the ground was thawed and the air was hot. She gave a content sigh of pleasure as the rest of her warmed up as well.

He stood beside her, laughing at her behavior. "Every time, I swear. It's a good thing we keep this thing lit, or we'd have people after our blood. It's much colder up here than people think."

Walking away, he called to her. "Come up the stairs when you're done, I'll find a fresh change of clothes for you." He ascended the stairs, and disappeared from site behind the lip of a ledge above her.

She nodded, and continued to hold her hands out to the fiery embers, allowing them to fill her with much needed heat. Next to her, Ghost looked around awkwardly.

"I thought you wanted to leave?" she remarked teasingly. He looked at her.

"Well, I mean … I feel invested, I can't just leave you."

She gave him a deadpan look. "You want to see if the Last Hunter is real, don't you?"

"I want to see if the Last Hunter is real."

She laughed. "Well, I'd be lying if I said I was disappointed. Happy to have you here, Ghost."

"Happy to be here," he replied chirpily.

Together, they watched as the flames danced around in the bitter winter frost.


	56. Verity Revealed

" _They're waiting for you, you know."_

" _Let them."_

" _Don't you understand how important this is? This isn't like the others, I've seen the reports, how tense both sides are getting-"_

" _I don't care."_

"…"

" _I'm not ready."_

" _But you are-"_

" _Not because of any inability. Because I choose not to be ready. I've played my part, I've done my work. Now, the world can take care of itself."_

" _That's the point, it can't take care of itself. Humanity needs guidance. I'm not going to budge on this-"_

" _Neither am I. I'm not going for their sake, I never have. It's taken a long time to see that everyone only looks out for themselves. The people and their behavior are a product of their own making. If they didn't want me, then they won't have me. I'm perfectly content to abide by their doctrine, and take care of myself."_

" _You can't afford that line of thinking, not anymore. The Trinary Star won't be content to leave you be once you go through with this. War will come, and people will be choosing sides."_

"…"

" _Make sure they're on the right one."_

"… _I wish I knew which one was right anymore."_

 _ **\- Mystery transmission heard on an unsecured communications channel**_

* * *

Clara walked down the steps of the temple with Dirk at her side, and a newfound appreciation for winter wear. The boots, fur vest, and coat she wore were more than enough compensation for the cold temperatures. Outside, mist seeped in around the courtyard and provided a layer of fog that hindered clarity. Due to this, a glow-like aura could be seen whenever an Exo was looking at you, emitting from their vibrantly colored eyes. This was true for her as well, small blue spotlights shining out into the fog like a lighthouse. Ghost followed behind them as she talked with Dirk.

"So, why has this gotten everyone so anxious?" she asked. "I mean, it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Then again, I'm a bit of a newcomer to this world you occupy, so maybe I don't see the full picture."

He nodded. "Well, it mostly has to do with the Trinary Star. See, they've been claiming for years that this is nothing but a story, which I believe as well. Thing is, that cult has been around since the Traveler was still in power. They've always hated it, and in turn, its Light and any who wield it."

He held out a hand, and a small ember appeared in the center with no visible source. "As a Keeper, I'm a bit more in tune with it than a normal civilians. I've heard theories that it's like radiation fallout, where prolonged exposure to Light has mutated us to be more adaptive with it." He clenched his fist, and the flame extinguished. "Either way, I can't do much with it, but it helps from time to time. Now, these 'Guardians' of which the Last Hunter is supposed to be one, are despised by the Star. They think of those legends like they were demons, and the Traveler was the devil. So, they understandably try to suppress any mention or remembrance of them, and they've got a lot of influence to do it."

They arrived at the fire pit, and Dirk looked around at the crowd, many of them talking with one another as others wandered aimlessly. "The rest of humanity doesn't really care about what we used to be, or what the Traveler once did. But there are some who still praise the Light and all that, and they heavily resent the Star. They call themselves the Seven Seraphs, and they go back a long ways too. But they're not nearly as big as the Star, and they don't have any real records of what truly happened all that time ago, so they're just about as much in the dark about everything as we are."

He placed a hand on his chest plate. "Now, as Keepers, we try to stay neutral. We may be low-level versions of these 'Guardians', whoever they were, but our job is just to keep the peace. If either side ends up attacking the other, that's where we step in. Humanity is far too endangered already, we can't have ourselves killing one another."

She gazed around at the plethora of people as well, some dressed like Dirk, some appearing to be nothing more than average people who had come for the opportunity of a lifetime. "So, most people are here because they want to see if it's true … the Star is angry at the idea that a Guardian might still be alive … and the Seven want this Hunter for what?"

"Well, my guess is that they'd like them as a source of history," he mused. "I mean, if you had someone who knew what really happened, things could definitely sway in your favor. You could gain a lot of influence, maybe start making changes in big ways." He hummed thoughtfully.

That sounded a lot like the Seven wanted to take the Star down, and vice versa. The Keepers were the only ones stopping that from happening, but if this Hunter was real … Clara had a feeling that peace wouldn't be an option for long.

"Best thing we can hope for," Dirk continued, "is that this is a no-show and everything just goes back to normal. Honestly, the idea that some kind of ancient-"

He fell silent as a loud metal groan could be heard from the direction of the bridge, towards the doors. Some others began to fall quiet too, looking interestedly over at the source of the noise. There, Clara saw that the heavy set of doors was opening to allow a new arrival.

Someone could be seen standing there, waiting for the doors to stop moving. They finally ceased their movement, and Dirk grunted. "I've got to go greet them, probably another person here for the gathering …"

Clara had a peculiar feeling about what was about to happen, and she decided to watch carefully.

Ghost materialized, and followed her gaze. "That fellow looks … unusual."

Dirk stopped at the bridge, and called out to the stranger. "You here for the gathering? We're a bit packed, but just make sure that-"

Without making a sound, the individual began walking forward. Not menacingly or in a way meant to intimidate; just with the gait of someone who had a particular destination in mind. As they walked closer across the bridge, Clara could see more specific details.

They seemed to be of fairly decent build, shorter than Dirk but in no way physically deficient. It was obviously a man by the lack of more prominent physical traits. Their garb was primarily white and black, great camouflage amongst the snowy terrain that surrounded Felwinter Peak.

They wore a hauberk with stitched padding over their chest, and a fur-padded strap that stretched from their left shoulder to the right side of their waist. Leather boots covered their legs up to their knees, and their arms seemed to be wrapped in layers of torn fabric. On their shoulders were white plates of metal, intricately crafted and obviously of high quality in stark contrast to the rest of their garments.

They had stopped in front of Dirk, impeded by the latter's position at the other end of the bridge. As they looked into his face, she saw that they wore a unique helmet; it had two eyes and a wickedly beautiful design of a mouth engraved into it, the middle and sides sharpening into points. Draped around them was a hooded cloak, a tuft of fur surrounding the shoulders and neck like a scarf while the rest of it draped behind them, long and tattered with scars. The hood above their head cast a shadow into the front of their helmet, only intensifying the intimidation that everyone felt while staring at them.

"Who are you?" Dirk asked cautiously. At the moment, it seemed like he thought this person was just here to cause trouble.

The stranger gave no answer, but a faint noise not unlike a hiss of modulation could be heard behind him, and a familiar object floated into view.

"That's a Ghost," Ghost whispered. "He has a Ghost."

Everyone else in the courtyard fell silent, evidently realizing what exactly was transpiring. The magnitude of the situation could not have been more apparent.

"It's him," Clara breathed. "The Hunter's real."

Dirk seemed to be at a loss for what to do. He had blatantly stated his disbelief in such a tale, but the proof of the Last hunter's existence was standing right in front of them. They looked toward Dirk's feet for a moment, and then back to his face. The message was clear.

Dirk stepped back hurriedly, allowing the Hunter passage. They said nothing, but finally moved forward again. Slowly, they walked through the ranks of people in the courtyard as their Ghost followed behind them. Everyone parted before them, giving them space to move freely. The chatter and speech that had occupied the air mere moments before had now been reduced to nothing. The tension everyone felt was more than enough expression for them.

There was an aura around them, almost a tangible force that she could sense around him; it commanded respect from those around him, yet she felt that he did not truly care. It was not prestige he desired, but he received it anyway.

He continued up towards the fire, standing in front of it for a moment. He bowed deeply in respect to it, though for what purpose, Clara hadn't the foggiest idea. Perhaps this site was of importance to him? In any matter, he disregarded the stares and unblinking gazes that tracked his every move, and paid attention to no one.

That is, until he passed by her.

As he walked away from the fire towards the stairs of the temple, he stopped and looked at her. She was petrified, bewildered as to why she was of such interest. Then his head snapped towards the humming noise she heard to the right of her, and she realized that he was now staring at Ghost.

The Hunter's own Ghost floated forward a few inches as everyone watched, and looked at its counterpart curiously. Ghost seemed shocked by the attention, and he had completely frozen in mid-air. After a few moments, it moved back in line with its companion, and he broke his gaze away from her.

Up the stairs he travelled, and then to the left towards a minimally marked path up the mountain. Without hesitation, they began to make the journey to the top, silent as they did so.

It was a few moments before he disappeared from sight as he climbed, and even longer before anyone spoke.

"So," Clara stated dryly, "it would appear that the Last Hunter is real."

"Yeah," mumbled Ghost in a very small voice, "it appears so."

—X—

Every gust of air that skirts its way around the mountain threatens to throw him off, and send him plunging to the ground far below.

He can't help but feel that it wouldn't be an altogether unwelcome outcome.

Silent for the entirety of his journey's duration, he makes his way upward. Jumping across gaps in the rocks, using handholds whenever necessary, even scaling a small section of the side that had become nearly vertical since the last time he'd ascended this mountain.

The Ghost next to him says nothing. There's nothing to say that hasn't been said.

As he climbs, however, something that hasn't happened in a very long time begins to take place.

He thinks of someone else.

Most of these days, his time was spent keeping to himself and staying away from the settlements. He looked out for his own sake, no one else's. But that Exo … she and the Ghost behind her had intrigued him for far longer than he usually entertained the thoughts of others in his mind. Those blue eyes, the white and silver plating …

Shaking his head, he swiped those thoughts aside. It was of no matter. She was just another Exo of many, not worth the energy he spent thinking about her. But still, something gnawed at him, persists in his mind. There was something about her …

His musings were cut short by his realization that he made it to the top. Gripping the edge of a rocky outcrop, he heaved himself onto the much wider and open space that awaits him. Here, near the tip of Felwinter Peak, was his destination. Walking onto the ledge, he inhaled a deep breath and releases it. It's been a very long time since he was last here. Ironically, time was something he had no want for, but he had far too much of it.

Unfortunately, that might not be the case much longer. He'd been seen by a few people, yes, but there were far too many down below to escape detection. They all saw him, were all witnesses to his existence. He growled as he pondered that maybe his Ghost was right; the Star would not rest until they found him, now that he'd inadvertently proven his actuality.

Opting to worry about that later, he sat down and waited patiently. His arrival was timely, and she'd certainly never missed a meeting.

Indeed, it was mere moments before an entity began to materialize. An orb of blue light, hovering above the ground ever so slightly. He watched as it pulsed, and slowly began to take shape-

A sound interrupted his thoughts, and he quickly looked away from the mountain. With the sound waves bouncing everywhere throughout the mountain range, it was difficult to triangulate the source; but he finally pinpointed something which aligned with the sound he'd heard.

The sound of a dropship's engines.

It was a Hawk model, something he actually recognized. Technology hadn't advanced much in the many years past, admittedly, but it was still a confirmation of what he feared.

The Trinary Star was here.

* * *

 _ **A/N: For any who are confused about where this is going, the only hint I can give you is this; re-read the chapters "Incarnation" and "Tooth and Claw" from the fourth book. There are parts of them that will be addressed very soon, and maybe you'll see where I've been leading up to this whole time.**_

 _ **With me, I'm always playing the long game.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	57. Ultimatum

" _Tell me you love me."_

" _I love you."_

" _I know."_

" _Then why-"_

" _Because I'll never get tired of hearing you say it."_

" … "

" … _I know that look. What are you thinking?"_

" _I'm worried."_

" _Why?"_

" _Times are changing. Political attitudes are shifting, people are becoming restless. And you can't really blame them, I mean look at how many threats humanity's had to deal with in the last decade alone. I feel like we're fighting two wars; one with the Darkness, and one with the City."_

" … "

" _And this rising cult, this 'Trinary Star' group. They're growing bigger and bigger by the day. What if everyone starts following them? If the Light becomes just as abhorrent an idea to them as the Darkness? What happens to us then?"_

" _I don't know. None of us can know, these are answers that I hope we never get. I wish we didn't even have to ask these questions, but it's the reality of the world we live in."_

" … "

" _Hey, look at me. No matter what happens, no matter what we go through, we'll always have each other."_

" _You got that right."_

" _I'm always right."_

" _I love you."_

" _I know."_

* * *

Everyone around the courtyard was abuzz with excitement. Some laughed, some spoke in whispered tones, and some were just silent with awe. At long last, there was definitive proof to the Last Hunter's existence, and everyone here had been a part of it.

Dirk walked numbly back to Clara, and took his faceplate off. Underneath the mask was a grizzled beard and a slightly open jaw. Evidently, he was in shock of what had just happened.

She looked at him seriously. "You alright?"

He closed his mouth, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, I just … wow."

Ghost flitted about happily. " 'Wow' is right! I can't believe it, he's real! He's actually real!" He stopped for a moment, and faced her. "And he looked at us, his Ghost looked at me! It's so much to take in!"

His comment gave her pause. Why _did_ he look at them so strangely? He hadn't paid attention to anyone else in the courtyard but her and Ghost. Was it because they reminded him of himself? According to the stories of those Guardians after all, they were people and Ghosts who formed bonds with each other. She didn't think that Ghost and her had that kind of bond, but maybe the Hunter had wondered.

That was another thing. "So if he's real …" she slowly spoke, "does that mean that Guardians were real? The Warlocks, the Titans, everything?"

Dirk let a whoosh of air escape his lips, dumbfounded at the stunning realization. "I mean … I guess they'd have to be. But that doesn't make any sense to me."

"How so?"

He furrowed his brow. "Well, apparently a 'Guardian', or at least this one, can live for quite awhile. I mean, the last sighting was forty years ago, and these sightings have been stretching back to as far as two centuries ago."

She still didn't get it. "So?"

"So," he explained, "if they're so damn resilient, then where did they all go?" He shook his head. "I can't believe logically that so many warriors and individuals like them would just disappear … unless something made them."

That thought was a disturbing one. "If something made them? But what could do something so big like that, without anyone knowing the truth?"

A roar of engines caught their attention, and they looked skyward to see a large dropship approaching. It circled around the area, searching for a proper place to set down. On its side, she could see some kind of emblem painted onto it. It was a gold skeleton of a deer standing upon a similarly colored upside-down triangle. Behind it, there was just a large splotch of blue to make the gold stand out.

Dirk's mouth set in a thin line. "I'm starting to get a good idea."

"Who is that?" she asked, getting the idea that this dropship was of importance to him.

"That," he muttered, "is the mark of the Trinary Star. They wouldn't be here unless they got the news somehow." He looked around at the mass of people in the crowd. "I'd be willing to bet a few of these people belong to one faction or another."

"You mean the Seven and the Star?" she whispered.

He nodded. "Yeah. I think things are about to get pretty hairy in here." He motioned to her. "You stay behind me, alright?"

She crossed her arms. "What, you think I need protection in a fight?"

"Yeah," he blatantly stated, "I do. If you really did wipe any knowledge of these guys, then it means you don't know how bad they can be."

She didn't like the tone he had in his voice; it was one of fear. She decided that maybe it was wiser to listen.

Slowly, the dropship lowered itself until it was roughly fifteen feet above the courtyard's entrance, right where the bridge ended. As she watched, several individuals materialized from thin air below. They wore monotonously colored armor, white and grey only. The actual shape of it seemed to mirror that of Dirk's, bulky and giving off the appearance that they were strongly built. But the design was different, theirs seemed more artificial and streamlines than his rough 'n tough style.

In each of their hands, they held automatic rifles. Whether they shot energy or ballistics, Clara didn't know. Either way, they'd probably be more than proficient enough at their job.

Beside her, Dirk gave a growl. "Those aren't Keepers, they're enforcers of the City. They're only supposed to look out for the City's own interests, they have no business being here … unless their loyalties are really to someone else." He gave a sad sort of sigh. "I can't believe that it's so clear now, that this is actually happening."

"What do you mean?" she asked worriedly. He sounded like a man who had resigned himself to something horrific. "What's happening?"

He looked at her utmost seriousness in his eyes. "The Seven are probably not far behind, and things are going to get complicated. No matter what happens, stay safe. Don't do anything stupid, you hear?"

Nervously, she gave a small nod of confirmation that seemed to satisfy him. "Alright then. Here we go."

One final man materialized below the ship, and she could see instantly that this person was the leader. They wore a heavy black cloak that covered all of their back, and most of their front. But it split at a seam in the center of their chest, and she could see gold and blue colored armor beneath, the same colors of the Star's emblem. There was no hood to this cloak, but they didn't need one; for a helmet, they wore an intricately crafted model of a deer's skull sans the antlers. Its black eye sockets seemed to stare deeply into Clara's own eyes, judging her.

They walked forward, accompanied by the rest of their guard. Dirk gave a deep breath, then moved forward to meet them. Clara followed closely. Ghost had disappeared completely, and she expected that he was hiding from the Star.

Hopefully he'd be safe from whatever happened next.

—X—

The form in front of him had finally taken shape. A glowing humanoid figure, shining with blue light. Their features weren't visible, just hazy approximations. But that was more than enough for him.

Finally, the Hunter spoke.

"It's been awhile."

The entity had no reaction other than a sad sigh. _**Every time I see you, you appear more broken.**_

He nodded, accepting that. "I was tired a long time ago. Now, it just doesn't matter." He looked at it. "I've given up."

 _ **I've known that for a while now.**_

He said nothing, he just lowered his head and sat there. Most times, he looked forward to these meetings; the one constant light in his dreary existence.

But now, even the joy of them had been sucked out of him.

The being gave a small hum. _**You are tired because you haven't just given up on yourself, but on the world. You don't see any foreseeable outcome where anything changes.**_

He scoffed. "Am I wrong? Look at how they fight, how they treat one another. Don't you remember when everything fell? Accusations were fired from every direction, and they all struck us. It's impossible for them to change."

Shaking his head, he looked away. "I've gone and done it. This time wasn't going to be like the others, where maybe a handful of people vaguely see me. I walked in front of everyone, hundreds of people, they all saw me. I just … whatever happens, happens. But I don't care anymore."

The voice sighed. _**Fortunately, one of us is able to see every branching path of a choice. And right now, you have one such decision to make.**_

He looked at the entity curiously. "And what would that be?"

 _ **I've set the destiny of another in motion. It was no accident that she found herself here.**_

He was taken aback. "Her? But she's-"

 _ **There's more to her than you think. Watch, and see.**_

Moving aside, the blue being moved aside to provide room for him to move up. Hesitating only for a moment, he walked over to the ledge's lip and looked down.

—X—

The leader of the group stopped in front of Dirk, those soulless black holes for eyes boring into the Keeper.

Dirk took a blunt approach to defusing the situation. "There's nothing for you here. You are not welcome here."

They tilted their head slightly. "On the contrary. It would seem that there _is_ something of interest to us here."

Their voice was male, one of silky tone but with veiled threat within. She knew that they intended to have their way here.

But Dirk wasn't budging. Crossing his arms, he planted himself firmly in place. "I'm a firm believer in freedom, in the eradication of tyranny. And it would seem to me that this 'Hunter' you seek has suffered a severe lack of that. I don't know of your quarrel with him, I didn't even know he existed as of half an hour ago, but I know that he deserves the privilege of peace if he wishes it."

The leader wasn't so easily brushed off. "I don't believe I was asking for your permission. This is simply a notice that we will be performing business here."

Dirk's eyes widened with anger. "No, you won't. I'm the head keeper of this Temple, so I maintain the peace. And I'm of the opinion that there won't _be_ any peace if you roam here. So, in a simpler way you can understand; get out."

Clara was impressed with Dirk's bravery in the face of clear opposition. It seemed that the majority of the crowd was similarly watching the exchange, pleased with Dirk's stance on the situation. Apparently, the Trinary Star wasn't too popular of a group in these parts.

The leader gave a snarl, something she hadn't expected from the cool and collected voice she'd heard a few moments ago. "You've entertained me for a few minutes, but your novelty has worn thin."

With a move so quick that she couldn't properly see what happened, they seemed to shove a fistful of fire into Dirk's chest. The Keeper was immediately blown backwards into the air, and landed in a heap several feet from Clara. He uttered not a sound.

"Dirk!" she cried, and moved to examine him. She froze as soon as she saw what had happened, and why he wasn't making any noise. It seemed as though a hole had been burned right through his body, an aperture torn directly through the core of his stomach. Dirk was certainly dead.

The leader looked around at the crowd and screamed angrily, "WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS THE HUNTER?!"

They seized up in fear at the sudden outburst before them. Whoever this individual was, they seemed quite unstable.

In a beat, their voice returns to its menacingly low tone. "If you do not reveal him, we will be forced to find him ourselves. And I can assure you, none of you will like that." The implication behind the words was subtle, but not entirely hidden. And judging from his reaction to Dirk, she had the feeling that they wouldn't be against killing everyone here just to get to the Hunter. Someone had to step up, and defend him just as Dirk had.

Moving away from the body, she stood firmly a few feet in front of the leader. They seemed pleased by her behavior. "Ma'am, I applaud your choice to step forward. Where might we find the Hunter?"

She tensed herself up, gathering her courage, and spoke loudly so that everyone could hear her. "You won't. As my friend said, he has earned the right to peace from you."

Their voice fell, obviously not expecting the response that she'd given. "Did you not see what _happened_ to your friend? I urge you, do not tempt me into joining you with him."

Her body shaking ever so slightly, she managed to maintain her composure. "I will not bend to your will. With me, you'll find that fear is not an effective weapon in your arsenal. So fight me or kill me, what have you. But I will not be intimidated by you, nor will I stand aside."

She could hear a collective murmuring from the the masses behind her, marveling at her actions. Evidently, the man before her could hear it too.

"So be it," he spat.

With a quickness she could not have predicted, his fist came free from the folds of his cloak and struck her in the face. It was gauntleted with metal knuckles, and she felt it dent her cheek as it impacted against her. She was knocked to the ground, before standing up and taking her own swing at him. '

Easily dodging her attack, he grabbed her arm and lifted her into the air before slamming her down onto her back. Lifting his foot high off the ground, he drove it down into her midsection and caused her to buckle with pain.

He leaned down as she lay limp on the stone floor, and hissed at her. "Look at what you defiance has rewarded you with; a premature death. What a pity." Standing back up, he held a fist ready to cave her head in-

A white object suddenly flew in between Clara and her attacker. "If you want to kill her, you'll have to kill both of us!"

It was Ghost. Ordinarily, she would have appreciated his misplaced act of bravery; but it had accomplished nothing here besides guaranteeing himself a death as well as her.

Unexpectedly, however, the man froze at the sight. "A Ghost … ? With you … ?" He seemed completely nonplussed by the situation before suddenly chuckling and lowering his fist. "Has he taken on an apprentice? It's of no wonder that you defended him-"

This man thought she was the Hunter's trainee? She had to correct that perspective.

"I'm no apprentice of his," she spoke as toughly as she could while gritting through the pain, "I just know that I'm no friend of yours."

Now, the man seemed even more confused than before. "If you have no relation to him, then why do you defend him so vehemently?"

"Because," she groaned, "it's the right thing to do."

At that, he scoffed in disgust. "What would he know of the right thing, if you're so convinced he's the victim here? In fact, let's put your faith to the test!"

Reaching down, he gripped her by the throat and held her in the air. He was surprisingly strong, and she could feel him slightly choking her windpipe as her feet were lifted off the ground. Ghost hovered frantically around, obviously in distress but without any real ways to help her. Ghosts weren't equipped for combat, it seemed.

He drew a knife from within his cloak, and held it tauntingly close to her face, scratching the metal of her features as he did so. "Do you think he'd do the same for you? Defend you from the likes of me?" He laughed. "Let's see."

Looking around the entirety of the area, he yelled, "HUNTER! IF YOU TRULY ARE AS VALIANT AS THIS MISGUIDED FOOL BELIEVES YOU TO BE, THEN SHOW YOURSELF! COME TO HER AID, IF YOU DARE!"

—X—

He clenched his fists.

"Why did you lead her here? She doesn't deserve this!"

 _ **Then prove it.**_

He was shocked by the entity's response. "You … this is the choice?"

 _ **You claim that this is not justice. If you are truly not at fault, and everyone is incapable of change, then there should be no question that her death is of no consequence to you.**_ The voice pressed on. _**But if you see the truth, that there is hope and perhaps you just refuse to see it … then prove that you are still willing to do what's right, as she has done.**_

He was stunned into silence by the revelation that the being was presenting him. This ultimatum was beyond anything he'd expected, but there was no question that he had to make a decision quickly.

 _ **I will not appear again.**_

He spun around in surprise. "What? But-"

 _ **If you have still given up, then there is not a need for me any longer. You will find a way to meet your end in your own way, I will not help you. And if you decide that perhaps there is a chance after all for change … then it will be time to accept the past and move on.**_

He said nothing, too stunned for words. Everything was happening too fast, he hadn't wanted any of this.

Without waiting for a response, the humanoid head bowed towards him. _**Goodbye.**_

With a small flash of blue light, the anomaly disappeared.

Staring where they'd been a moment before for just a second longer, he returned his attention to the scene unfolding below him. He'd been called out, challenged by _him._

He pondered what they'd said, wondering if maybe he truly was the same person that he'd thought himself to be. All those years ago, back when he wasn't a disheartened man, what would he have done?

Remembering a saying from long ago, he turned it over in his mind; _it is when people are at their breaking point that you discover the nature of their character._

To find out who a person was, you had to examine them when everything wasn't convenient for them, when life was at its most difficult point; did they fall apart, did they change who they were? Or did they stick to their morals, to their beliefs in spite of opposition?

With a final sigh of resignation, he made his choice.

—X—

The man remained silent, waiting for a response of any kind. Unknown to him, Clara also waited for an answer to her plight, for the Hunter to defend her as she had done for him.

But no one came.

A cruel laugh escaped from beneath the skull-helmet. "You see? He does not care for you, or anyone else. He never has."

She felt her metallic lip trembling, but held steady as she resigned herself to her fate. "I didn't defend him expecting a reward; I did it because it because it needed to be done."

He shook his head, tightening his grip around her neck. "Your fault was that you do not know him."

At this, he leaned close and whispered to her. "But I do."

She hung there in shock, momentarily forgetting her situation. He'd known that the Hunter existed?

"I know above all that he's a selfish coward, hiding behind the backs of greater men to protect him! He sees you all as being beneath him, insects to his paradigm of superiority. And hell will freeze over, preferably with him in it, before he lifts a finger to help you-"

He was cut off as the sound of something slamming hard into the stone behind her caused everyone to gasp collectively. The man holding her suddenly lost his grip on her throat, rendered temporarily speechless. As she landed on the ground, and Ghost flitted around her to make sure she was okay, she lifted her head to see what had happened.

He was in a kneeling position, his left leg forward and his right knee flat on the ground. His right arm was stretched to the ground, bent with the task of absorbing such an impact as the one created by falling from the height of the peak. His head was hidden from view as he stared at the ground; but as she watched, he slowly lifted his gaze up to meet her own, and she saw that wicked helmet beneath the cloak once again.

The Hunter was here.


	58. Standoff

_I watch as our life crumbles around us._

 _The people we walk among hurl insults, and spit at our feet. While we were once hailed as heroes, as the saviors of humanity, now we are seen as the harbingers of death. The Grim Reaper's reputation is superseded by our own._

 _I hurt as our friends fall before us._

 _Whether they step down from their role, or are forced to submit to this new will of the people, or are even hunted in order to ensure that they never again lift the mantle of responsibility that we've taken on, my heart aches for their suffering._

 _I feel hope as he holds me._

 _As his arms wrap around me, his hands gripping me tightly around my navel and chest, it gives me a small sense of security; that in this new, uncertain future, he will remain my rock, my one unyielding constant that I can look forward to each morning._

 _But what would I do, if he were to not be there in the morning? How broken would I become, how deranged may I see myself if he was not with me?_

 _What will he do, when I am no longer here to keep his dark thoughts from consuming him?_

* * *

Slowly, the Hunter rose to a standing position and his full height. The crowd of onlookers behind him and to his sides were awestruck, astounded that he had come to Clara's aid after all. Ghost hovered there nonplussed, still in awe of the living myth before him.

The man with the skull helmet quickly regained his composure. "Well, it would seem that you can't entirely let go of your ego, can you?"

The Hunter said nothing, simply glaring at the man from behind those fiery eyes of the helmet he wore.

It was wise, in her opinion; had he not come to help her, she would have died and the man would have been proven right. But now that he had, the man would taunt him for being selfless. It was a losing battle either way, but the Hunter had opted not to entertain a conversation with him. Saying nothing said more than trying to defend himself ever could.

The man gestured to the enforcers flanking his sides as protection. "It's over, Hunter. We've only tolerated your existence with the unspoken agreement that you keep it ambiguous. Evidently, you've faltered on your part." He cocked his head slightly. "Besides, I'd almost think you _wanted_ it to end. You wouldn't have shown yourself without a reason, and you must have known this would happen."

Clara was still shocked by the fact that the Trinary Star had known that the Hunter existed in the first place; if they'd let everyone believe that Guardians were nothing more than an old legend, what else could be true that they were hiding?

Remaining silent, the Hunter simply pointed at Clara. Then he pointed towards the spot next to him, indicating that she should go to him.

She began to move, but her progress was immediately impeded by the grip of the Star's leader on her arm, wrenching her backwards and away from safety. "I don't think so. If you want her guaranteed safety, then give yourself up. Her life for yours is fair, don't you think?"

The Hunter still said nothing, but she watched as he began to shift his weight in response to the enforcers now moving slowly towards him. Tension was present throughout the courtyard as everyone watched with bated breath.

"I'd rather make an example of you later, but I'll kill you here if you force my hand," the leader growled.

The Hunter stared back, unmoved.

The leader gave a small hand gesture to his men, and they began to move forward on the Hunter. He made no moves against them, in spite of his preparation for something … something that hadn't come yet-

Suddenly, the faint sound of engines could be heard in the distance, growing louder with every passing second. The leader looked out at the skies behind them, and muttered a curse under his breath as he realized what was descending upon them. "It's the Seven! Grab him, and let's-"

In the blink of an eye, the Hunter vanished. He didn't hide, he literally vanished. The enforcers, Ghost, and Clara alike looked around wildly for where he'd disappeared to-

In the space of a single moment, the Hunter had reappeared behind one of the enforcers and wrapped his arm around the man's neck. Their scream was cut off as he snapped their neck with one quick motion, and then threw their body into two others.

Another tried to rush him and swung a fist, but the Hunter easily caught it and then brought down the enforcer's arm on his shoulder, snapping it at the elbow. As they cried out in pain, the Hunter yanked the rifle out of their hands and then kicked them away before aiming at the leader.

He fired a single burst which the leader was forced to dodge immediately, but then the man brought Clara closer and held her out in front of him like a shield. "Put it down! Or do you want yet another death on your hands?" he taunted. She struggled against his hold, but he was too strong and she was in too vulnerable a position.

Clara could see that the Hunter didn't want to risk her life by making any sudden moves, but he couldn't exactly surrender either. All he and the leader could do was glare at each other, thinking angry thoughts.

"Well?!" demanded her captor, "Speak, coward!"

The Hunter looked directly at Clara. Finally, he spoke for the first time to her.

"Duck."

She was momentarily confused about what he meant before she registered the drone and whine of the engines that had gotten louder. Taking the cue, she immediately swung her body as hard as she could towards the ground, just managing to break out of the leader's hold.

It was right in time, as the Seven's gunships arrived and began peppering the courtyard with waves of bullets. She could hear them ricochet all around her, thankfully not hitting her. It seemed as though they were aiming for the Star's enforcers and their ships. Responding to the provocation, the Star's gunships began to engage the Seven's in a mid-air dogfight above Felwinter Peak.

Suddenly, she felt a strong hand grip her arm and lift her to her feet. "Come on." Looking up, she saw the Hunter forcing her to stand, urging her to move. "Follow me." She had no idea where the leader of the Star had gone, but the point was that he wasn't there anymore.

With an almost daze-like trance, she stepped after him as he made a beeline towards the edge of the courtyard overlooking the cliff, pausing intermittently to shoot anyone who tried to attack them. Upon reaching the ledge he motioned for her to wait. Apparently, something was going to happen-

Suddenly hearing a scuffle of boots behind them, she turned to see the leader with a gun in hand. He took aim at the Hunter who had not noticed yet, and prepared to fire.

Without thinking, she moved in front of him, shielding him with her body. She heard the faint sound of the gun going off, and then the almost distant feel of the bullets penetrating her light armor and punching their way into her inner systems.

"CLARA!" Ghost cried out.

The Hunter immediately turned towards the threat and threw something from within the folds of his cloak. It was a spinning dagger which buried itself in the hand of the leader, forcing him to relinquish his grip on the gun.

She began to fall backwards, but he caught her before she could hit the ground. Scooping her into his arms, he remained silent as ever as she feebly stirred. Her vision was growing darker, her systems shutting down to save power for life support. Looking at her midsection, she saw the blue blood that ran through Exo's artificial veins, and more than enough of it to be indicative of a serious injury.

Her last sight before she completely faded was Ghost flying frantically around her in worry, and the Hunter jumping off the ledge as he held her. They fell down … down … down …

And then the abyss consumed her.

…

She woke with a scream, finally responding to the pain that she'd felt when she'd been shot. With shaking hands, they rushed to her chest expecting to find her bleeding-

But her fingers came away dry. Trembling, she looked down at the tunic Dirk had given her which had been ripped open; not by the bullets, but with force, as though someone had pried their fingers into it and torn it manually.

Her body could be seen beneath, still stained with dried cobalt splotches from the injuries.; but some of the plating had been removed, and she could see into her innards. Where tubes had been broken, now there was some kind of tape-like material reinforcing them, keeping them from leaking. It was a makeshift job, but very well done considering the circumstances.

Trying to gather a sense of her surroundings, she took a look around. She was in quite a different location than when she'd passed out; it appeared to be a ship of some kind. Right now, she was lying on the metal floor in what appeared to be the bridge.

Upon hearing her move around, a familiar face darted towards her. "Clara! Are you alright?"

Ghost flitted back and forth frantically, trying to assess her well-being. "I-I didn't know what to do, a-and you were shot, and I j-just-"

"I'm fine," she said dismissively, waving him away as she grunted in pain. "Where … where are we?"

Ghost fell silent, and simply looked at something over her shoulder. She followed his gaze to see the Hunter standing behind her, silent and stoic as ever.

She had no idea what to say to him really, what could you say in that situation? She hadn't even known he'd existed a day ago, and now he'd gone and saved her life at the potential expense of his own.

Opting for a simple gesture of goodwill, she nodded in his direction meekly. "T-thank you, for s-saving me." Her voice shook with a slight edge of fear in its tone, a reminder to her that regardless of intent, the Hunter still inspired trepidation within her.

He said nothing at first, as seemed to be the case most of the time. Unexpectedly, he hung his head in what she could only assume was thinly veiled anger.

"Why?"

She hadn't anticipated a response from him, and was not only surprised by his doing so, but by the content of his reply. " 'W-Why' what?"

He shook his head slightly. "All this time, all these years, and yet …"

His voice was an odd mix of youth and age; while he didn't seem particularly old from the direct sound of his voice, she could hear it in the way his voice told a story; this was someone who was old, and had been dealing with pain for a very long time.

Rising in both volume and anger, he began to pace around the ship. "I was ready. This time, I was ready to let it all go, but _you-"_ He spun around and pointed an accusing finger at Clara. "You just had to go and play the hero, didn't you? You had to go and get involved."

She hadn't expected that kind of reaction at all. "I … I was just trying to defend you-"

Immediately, his voice reverted back to the low, threatening tone he'd been using a moment before. "There's always someone, there's always some damn person who thinks that they can make things right. Hell, I was probably that person for a time," he muttered. "Well, guess what? You _can't."_

"How can you think that way?" she asked, appalled. "That things can't ever get better-"

"Because I've seen how people change, how everything you've ever known or cared about can be thrown away as though it never happened," he spat. "What good is any deed if people will only condemn you for it later?"

He walked back towards the pilot's chair that she saw at the front of the cockpit of sorts they were in. "I've done more than my share in this world, put my life on the line for people who didn't deserve it, and now all I want is for it to end." He gripped the edge of the headrest tightly. "So, _why …_ _do I keep getting punished for that?!"_ he suddenly yelled, smashing his fist onto the console, and scaring both Clara and Ghost.

They remained silent as his chest heaved from exertion, allowing him space after his outburst. As they watched, his Ghost from earlier materialized and moved closer to the face of his helmet. Clara couldn't hear it, so she could only assume that it was speaking to the Hunter through other means.

After a few moments of that, the Hunter turned back around and stared at Clara silently. She had no idea what expression he wore under that helmet of his, but that wicked maw engraved into its front didn't inspire any confidence in her.

"Who are you?" he snapped. "Why did you stand up for me?"

She shrank away from his accusatory tone. "My name's C-Clara. And I don't know …"

"I need a better answer than, 'I don't know'," he spat.

"I don't know!" she cried. "It was just … you were by yourself, and Dirk died defending you … and it felt wrong that they w-wouldn't leave you in peace … and n-no one else was going to h-help you …"

She looked at him, her blue eyes filled with emotion. "I just didn't want you to feel so alone."

Apparently, he hadn't been expecting that answer, and stood there without a response.

She tilted her head in confusion. "What?"

He took a moment to answer. "I used to know someone who thought like you."

"Who?"

He sighed. "Another Hunter. He was someone who would have done everything in his power to protect others … even if it meant sacrificing himself." He clenched a fist tightly. "Funnily enough, the only time he failed was when he was needed most."

Eventually, he walked back over and knelt down next to her. Then he examined the temporary patchwork that he'd presumably performed on her injuries. "Years ago, I could have healed that in seconds." He shook his head in frustration. "Not the case anymore. That should hold you until we arrive, and I can perform a more extensive operation."

"Why?" she asked quietly, mirroring his question from earlier.

He looked away from her injuries, and into her eyes. " 'Why' what?"

"Why are you helping me?"

At that, it seemed that the Hunter had no real answer. He sat on his haunches, idle for a moment. Then with a shake of his head, he stood back up. "Call it an old-fashioned sense of courtesy. I'm repaying a debt."

She assumed that he meant to her, for shielding him from the leader's bullets. Speaking of which …

"Who was that man?" she continued, trying to gather more information. "The leader of the Trinary Star, the one who wanted you?"

The Hunter paused, and was quiet for another moment or two before answering. "That's the Stag. He's both the religious leader and commanding individual of the Star's military forces." He snorted. "Haven't seen anyone stand up to him in a long time, so consider yourself a special case."

"Why does he want you?"

The Hunter growled. "You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, and with as confident a voice she could muster spoke; "You can at least answer a few of them, considering I took a bullet for you."

Ghost looked in shock from her to him. In truth, she wasn't nearly as confident as she was pretending to be; but she wanted answers.

He stared at her blankly before sighing with that same weary sigh she'd heard before, the one that spoke volumes of age and tragedy. "It's a long story."

She gestured to their surroundings. "It would seem we have a bit of time."

He grunted. "That, we do." He looked at her. "As it so happens, that story actually has a lot to do with the other Hunter I told you about."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. In fact, it has just about everything to do with him." Deciding to share his story for the first time in years, he turned towards the chair next to him …

… and looked at Aria sitting there, staring back at him.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Okay, so let's get some things out of the way.**_

 _ **The Hunter's name will be revealed next chapter, sorry but it didn't mesh well with this chapter; I felt like I kept shoehorning it in, and I'd rather not rush the pacing on this.**_

 _ **No, the Stag is not a Warlock; his helmet is the Stag without the horns, though.**_

 _ **And if you're confused as hell at the ending of this chapter, like I said; things are going to be revealed, and probably not in the way you expect.**_

 _ **Also, I had someone ask me what armor the Last Hunter was wearing based on the cover; It's the Days of Iron Helmet with the ornament, the Days of Iron Hauberk with no ornament, Iron Breed Sleeves, Kallipolis Boots, and Idylls of the Iron Lords with no ornament.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	59. An Ancient Tale

_Loyalty is a fickle friend._

 _When thoughts run dark, and peace is uncertain, all will flock to easy security, to the promise of safety and guardianship._

 _But when those threats fade, and the need for protectors has died, love soon turns to hate._

 _The admiration for which the populace may hold for their saviors will flee, and be replaced with a fear which may not have been there before._

 _To have total control, you must have both fear and hope._

 _All fear and no hope means that they have nothing to lose._

 _All hope and no fear means that they have nothing to shy away from._

 _But the child of both fear and hope can ensure total obedience; they will rely on another's ability to save them, believing that they are unable to save themselves. In order to make sure that they meet this hero, they will listen until that hope reveals itself._

 _The trick is to never show them that there truly is no hope …_

… _or that the hope is not a pleasant aspiration, but a reality._

* * *

MANY YEARS AGO

* * *

Tiredly, Aria raised the glass of alcohol to her lips. Matt looked over at his own cup, which he'd been slowly sipping way for the last half of an hour. Even with some of it still left, he'd suddenly lost the urge to drink any more.

Whenever he drank, it was for one of three things; to celebrate, to numb, or to forget. Right now, he was drinking because he couldn't think of anything else to do.

"So," he muttered drowsily, "still no sign of him, huh?"

Aria shook her head, staring at the counter in front of her as the bartender passed by them. "No. We've searched just about everywhere now, and no sign of him. And he's definitely not hiding on purpose, there's no reason behind a move like that."

Rook had been missing for over two weeks now. On the first day or so, they hadn't been too worried. They thought that he was just somewhere in the city, either in minor trouble or carelessly roaming around. Their slight anger had quickly become anxiety when they found that there was no indication whatsoever of where he'd gone. Scorch and Dawn had simply woken up one day, and he wasn't there.

While Matt couldn't claim to know Rook as well as the two who lived with the guy, the Exo had been on familiar terms with him. He was friendly, humorous, and a generally enjoyable person to be around. He wasn't the kind of person who would go missing for such an extended period of time on his own volition.

Which meant that there was something potentially more sinister going on.

They'd been taking shifts for a bit, two to a team to track him down while the others rested. Aria and Matt had just finished their own respective rounds of the city, and turned up with nothing just like every other time they'd gone out.

No witnesses. No clues. No Rook.

His disappearance was taking its toll on everyone, Scorch the most heavily, but it provoked something else within Matt that he hadn't told anyone; curiosity.

Guardians just weren't needed like they had been before. Even before Oryx, Guardian activity had started to wane. Most of the menaces from the Darkness had been rather straightforward, and dealt with accordingly.

The Black Garden.

Retrieving the Spark of the Traveler from Mercury.

Atheon, Time's Conflux.

Kaine, in the Vault of Glass.

Crota, Prince of the Hive.

Skolas, the Kell of Kells.

Oryx, the Taken King.

The Darkness had run out of threats to throw at them. Oryx had been the last major opposition to the City, and they'd taken him down two years ago. Most thought that any thought of attack from the Darkness was now no more than an unlikely thought, however negative it may be.

But he thought otherwise.

He'd been fighting the Darkness for seven years, twelve if you counted the time that he'd spent frozen in limbo in the Vault. Since the moment he'd been resurrected, he'd had to adapt to the enemies of this time, defending the Last City from the minions that the Darkness sent to consume the light.

And one of the things he had learned was that whenever all seemed to be at peace, that was when the Darkness struck.

Many thought that his mild paranoia came from PTSD, that he was losing his edge. He wouldn't be the first Guardian to fall victim to mental trauma. The horrors of constant battle would wear down anyone's mind, providing a constant source of stress of which there was no relief.

While that may be true, he was confident that he was right. Rook's disappearance didn't make sense in any other context, it didn't add up. He had no idea why the Darkness would need an Exo, but it just _did._ Something was coming, he could feel it, he could-

"Matt, are you alright?"

Aria's voice jolted him back to reality, and away from the haunting voices that had begun to chant in his head. He looked down to see his hand shaking involuntarily, twitching like a dying spider.

"Yeah," he dismissed, "I'm fine." Shakily grabbing his glass, he downed the remainder and set it back on the counter. Instantly, he felt himself relax a bit more, and noticed that his hand had stopped spasming.

In front of him, Seraph materialized. "I think that's enough for you."

He nodded his agreement, quickly waving at her so she could pay the bar for the drink. "Probably. Aria, I'm gonna head back home. I'll see you in the morning."

She gave a worried expression, but held back any comments other than, "Good night." He knew better than to assume she wasn't thinking those same things about him. She heard the rumors that others spread behind his back, the mutters they spoke of his sanity when they thought he couldn't hear. He knew that she would never engage in those talks, but perhaps she still held a small belief in their validity deep down.

In any case, he wasn't worried about her questioning his judgement. Even if she didn't share his fears, he knew that she would follow whatever command he gave her, as would the others. They respected him far too much for any callous speculation that anyone made of his mental health to have an effect on their loyalty to each other and him.

Slowly, he shambled his way through the streets, clumsy more from exhaustion than the liquor in his system. Spending every day exploring each nook and cranny in the city as well as beyond the walls definitely put some strain on his body. Thankfully, they were practically empty due to the late hour, which meant that there weren't any citizens around to gawk at him and whisper hearsay under their breaths.

For the most part, the people of the City already held a previous healthy fear of Guardians, one that came as a result of their respect for them and their deeds. But with the decrease in necessity for them, that respect was slowly dwindling down. He didn't need anyone judging all Guardians on behalf of his own sluggish behavior at the moment.

Reaching the ground lobby of the tower, he pushed into it and quickly found himself an elevator. Leaning against the side, he stared out at the lights of the City through the glass wall, and was almost rocked to sleep by the steady vibrations of the conveyor as it guided itself up the rails towards the courtyard. Only when it had reached the top and gave a beep of confirmation that they had arrived did he give a loud start, and realize where he was again.

Shuffling out of the elevator, he walked to his room and opened the door. Even in his foggy state, he was careful to remain quiet as to not wake the individual currently occupying the bed.

As it turned out, Ash was still awake. He blearily saw two glowing blue lights appear in the dark, and stare back at him as he moved to the bed. "Hey."

"Hey," he muttered back, lying down on the mattress next to her. She remained looking at him.

"Anything?"

He shook his head, then tiredly rotated it to look back at her. "You?"

"Nothing," she admitted softly. "Scorch is going crazy with worry."

He had no response to that. The two of them were great friends, it was true; having both lived on the streets for much of their lives, Scorch and Rook easily related to one another, and it wasn't hard to see how their friendship had grown. He'd even spent time with the others of the Legends, and they'd taken a liking to him. It wasn't easy for anyone.

Beside him, she gave a worried sigh. "Matt … do you … do you think that maybe he's … ?"

Softly shushing her, he kissed the top of her head. "Hey, don't think like that. I'm sure he's still holding out, wherever he is."

Satisfied with that answer, she let her head fall back on the pillows and began to finally sleep. Little did she know that his advice was hypocritical in nature.

Truthfully, he'd be very surprised if they weren't looking for a corpse by now.

—X—

Setting Clara on some kind of mat he'd laid on the floor, the Hunter disappeared for a moment to get some supplies.

She had still lost a lot of ichor, and was in somewhat of a daze currently. As far as she could tell, they were no longer in the Hunter's ship, but rather in some kind of building. Everything was made of wood, and it gave her the idea that perhaps they were in a cabin, or a cottage.

She heard the sound of the Hunter's boots on the floor before she saw him come back into her field of vision and kneel down next to her. Laying out the items, she saw that it was some kind of metallic looking plant.

Gently, he reached his hands in to strip away the coverings he'd applied, revealing her chest. "Deactivate your neuro-sensors if you haven't already."

Hazily, she followed his order. After a moment or two, he seemed sure that she'd followed his direction, and he moved in to grab her 'skin'. Finding a seam in the damaged metal, he pried her plating apart and looked to Ghost, who was circling around them both.

"Get to work."

Ghost looked at the Hunter oddly. "What do you mean?"

The Hunter gestured at her. "Her wounds. Use the spinmetal to create replacement parts. You'd be surprised at how many uses this stuff has."

Ghost looked nervously from her weak form to the man ordering him to perform surgery on her. "I've never done this before! I don't know how-"

"Then she's going to die," the Hunter said seriously.

Ghost jerked back at his grim declaration. "Why can't your Ghost heal her?"

"Ghosts are tied to their partners," the Hunter explained. "Mine is bonded to me. You'll need to be bonded to her in order to help."

"Bonds between humanity and Ghosts haven't happened since-"

"I know," the Hunter growled. "Believe me, I'm more than aware. But if you want her to live, then you'll put aside your fears and _get to work."_

The polyhedron ran out of things to say, and instead took a long look at Clara as she began to fade away. Gathering his strength, he began to emit a beam of light from his eye, using it on her injuries as he floated about. The Hunter looked at the spinmetal and was pleased to see that it was being used up.

Tiredly, Clara looked at him. "So … this other Hunter … you knew them well?"

The Hunter looked at her, deciding to humor her since she wasn't in the most comfortable of situations at the moment. "You could say that."

"Well, where … where do you fit into the picture? I thought this was _your_ story."

He gave a tired sigh. "I come into the picture later, but … this isn't just _my_ story. It's _a_ story. And with most stories, there's usually more to them than it may seem at first. There were a lot of people and events that lead up to the point of me being here, telling the tale to you."

Groggily, she scrunched up her face. "Well, you've … you've thrown me a few names in … that story of yours. Mind … telling me your own? I don't want to … to just call you … 'the Hunter' all the time."

He froze, and for a second she thought that she went too far. But upon further inspection, it seemed more like he was contemplating her request.

"Woods."

He said it simply, and with an air of finality. The name was sure simple enough, and she wasn't even sure if it was his real name; but it was the one she'd been given, so she was going to use it. "Alright … Woods. So what … what happened next?"

With a deep breath as Ghost continued to heal her, he begun the tale anew.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Short chapter, yeah. Sorry about that, but I've been working on a project for a film contest, and just submitted my entry yesterday. Haven't had a lot of time to work on writing, and I wanted to get this chapter out before spring break ended.**_

 _ **In any matter, I don't have much else to talk about. Everything's pretty much normal. Digging the new Samurai Jack episodes, they're pretty awesome. Check them out if you haven't already.**_

 _ **I guess that's it. Please follow, favorite, and review! I love reading your thoughts.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	60. An Old Foe

_I died once, a fault of my mortal form, only to be reborn as metal and circuit._

 _I died twice, abandoned and prejudiced against; I was given a new life through shadow and darkness._

 _I died thrice, forced to watch as everything was stolen from me._

 _My careful planning failed. The attack crumbled and fell apart. My family, those who I'd taken care of and had trusted to return the favor … they turned on me._

 _Yet, I live again._

 _Why?_

 _Why am I not permitted to feel the bliss that comes from fading into nothing? Why must I endure this god-forsaken experience known as life, the hellish plane that most cling to because it is all they know?_

 _I know._

 _Vengeance._

 _It would appear that my only purpose in life … is death._

* * *

He shot out of bed before he fully realized what was happening. He brought his arm back, knife at the ready for whatever disturbed him-

No one was there. The room was empty save for him and Ash, the latter of whom was stirring from the commotion.

Wondering what had possibly woken him up, his query was potentially answered with a resounding boom far off in the distance. Turning towards the door, he was now able to pick up on the muffled gasps and low voices that could be heard outside the door, presumably from other Guardians who had been stolen from sleep like him.

He checked the time. Two in the morning. Whatever was happening right now, it wasn't supposed to be.

"What's going on?" whispered Ash, her blue eyes shining in the shadow of the room. He paused, unsure of how to answer her. He had a few ideas … but better to play it safe first.

"I'm going to check it out. Be ready, just in case."

She nodded, and slipped out of bed so that she could dress herself. Following her example, he pulled on the closest pair of pants before quickly exiting the room and making his way down to the tower courtyard.

Upon stepping out onto the balcony, Matt was surprised to see a gathering of Guardians standing near the railing of the courtyard and looking out at the city. With haste in his gait, he jogged down the steps and joined the throng of people to see what was the matter.

At first, his eyes didn't register what was happening. Then, he spotted a peculiar sight accompanied by another boom similar to the one he'd experienced earlier. A blossom of orange and red far off in the distance, near the memorial district in Messenger's Fall.

Explosions.

Now, his first instinct was to declare a state of attack; but he knew how paranoid many found him to be after his experience with dealing with the Darkness. More than likely, it was a few callous citizens who were messing with unauthorized ordnance they'd either stolen or crafted illegally. That meant that someone was going to have to deal with it.

"Seraph," he muttered, and watched as the Ghost materialized in front of him. "Notify the Vanguards of the incident, and let them know that we'll be handling it."

She pulsed once. "Done."

After she disappeared once more, he raised his wrist to his mouth and spoke into the interface. "Alright team, we've got an unknown situation down in Messanger's Fall. Explosions. Probably just some kids looking to have some fun in the memorial site, but I'm not taking chances. I want all of you geared up and ready to leave immediately."

" _Already done."_

" _Copy that."_

" _You got it."_

" _It's too early for this …"_

" _On our way."_

Sighing, he lowered his arm again. He truly hoped that it was just a mild disturbance that turned out to be harmless.

For everyone's sake, he hoped his gut was wrong.

—X—

Cautiously, he stepped through the rubble of several ruined buildings. The other five followed closely behind, though spread out to better prevent an ambush if one came.

He never came here often; while the site had been named 'Messenger's Fall' in light of the Darkness' defeat during the Battle for the Traveler, the Exo hadn't been the only one to die here. The memory of that rebar stabbing through his midsection was forever etched in his mind.

Most of the time, he thought of the place like his own grave, just waiting for him to return so it could claim him again. That kind of thought didn't sit well with him.

As they walked, thunderous noises continued to echo in the air, cracking and splitting the peace of the night. Glows of orange dimly lit up the black sky whenever one happened to occur.

They were getting close.

" _What do you think it is?"_ whispered Dawn over the comms.

" _I don't know,"_ Eager replied, _"But I've got the Task Force on standby if we need them."_

Matt remained silent, letting them talk. He'd told Eager to refrain from sending in the force quite yet, and while the Exo had been somewhat unhappy with the arrangement, he'd agreed. The last thing they needed was to overreact and cause a scene that would only further everyone's view of him being a delusional victim of PTSD.

Finally, beyond the last remaining wall of a long-destroyed structure, he heard and saw the explosion firsthand. From this close, being just on the other side of the wall, it didn't sound like a 'boom' anymore; it was loud to be sure, but it was more akin to a gas stove turning on while next to a megaphone.

The point was that it sounded more like something was igniting rather than simply combusting.

Raising his fist in the air, he made a gesture for the others to stay quiet but follow closely. Leaning against the dilapidated wall, he pressed his head against it. There were noises, a cacophony of chattering like insects. It sounded distorted, but there was no mistaking it.

"Fallen," he relayed over the comms. He saw acknowledgement lights wink green, registering that they had indeed heard him and understood the situation.

That led to another question; what were the Fallen doing here? How had they gotten through the wall without anyone knowing? The idea of them coming here to do nothing other than the equivalent of setting off fireworks just didn't make sense to him. The Fallen were crafty, greedy; they never did something unless either something was in it for them, or it furthered their goals in some way-

"Finally … after all this time … I'm most enthusiastic about your arrival."

That wasn't Fallen; that was definitely a human voice … but it sounded garbled, like it was emitting through a broken speaker that distorted it. Who was it speaking to? The Fallen? Or some other unseen entity?

After failing to hear another voice respond, he was left confused. They wouldn't just be talking to themselves would they? And what was that about arrival? He hadn't seen anyone come … other than …

The gears turning in his head, he flashed a red light to the rest of the team. "Abort, they know we're-"

Before any of them could react, Fallen leapt out of hiding places they'd created in the rubble and debris. Within seconds, they were completely surrounded.

Leveling their weapons at the Guardians before them, they kept the Legends from defending themselves. One wrong move would trigger them into action, and that was not what he wanted them to do. Especially upon noticing the differences between them and the Fallen he was familiar with.

The ones before them wore the garb of the Devils, the most prominent and public of Fallen Houses on Earth. But their bodies had been corrupted, changed in horrific ways.

One Dreg was missing the lower halves of its legs, replaced with spindle-like protrusions that made sharp metallic noises when they scraped the ground. A Vandal's eyes had been removed, and replaced with cybernetically enhanced ones that glowed red through hexagonal filters. A Captain no longer had any hands, but rather had converted them into extendable blades that hummed with a red glow of energy.

Each of them had black plating and caps over their form, replacing the lackluster armor that they usually wore. It was pointed, spiked, unnatural. The Fallen were known to be pirates … but this wasn't just the look of scavengers.

They looked evil. Truly evil.

Whether their personalities had actually changed or not was to be seen, but one thing was for certain; this was something new, something they hadn't encountered before.

"Bring them to me."

Chittering angrily at them, the Fallen gestured towards the other side of the wall, where the mysterious voice was coming from. Without any other choice, they obeyed.

Upon stepping through the collapsed foundation, they found themselves in a relatively open area, free of most of the debris and litter that occupied the majority of the memorial district. Finally, he was able to get some kind of look at their host.

A single figure stood there, their back facing Matt and the others. A black hood and robes covered the majority of what he could see, but there was one thing he noted with unease; an aura of red surrounded them, almost like a small cloud of flies hovering around their head. The image before him screamed of the Grim Reaper, awaiting its time to rend the souls of the living.

And right now, they were its next target.

"Why are you here?" he questioned it, hoping to get some answers from this particularly unusual situation. "What is it that you want?"

"I wanted you," the figure replied coolly. "I apologize for the delay … but I was not yet ready until tonight to summon you. A few fires and eruptions … like moths to a literal flame, you came scampering like I knew you would."

Their head turned and glanced around at their present location. "I believe they call this place 'Messenger's Fall,' right? How fitting."

"And why's that?" Aria called.

With a warped cackle that raised the hairs on Matt's neck, the figure slowly turned around and revealed their horrifying likeness to them.

A blending of metal, not all meshed together properly. Maroon plates met white ones, shoved together with pieces sticking out at odd angles intermittently. Whatever wasn't securely fastened was held together by tendrils of a black and red polygonal material that strapped across them like organic rope.

A glow emitted from under the hood as a pair of mismatched eyes met them all. One amethyst, one blue.

His blood froze at the sight, realizing what exactly he was seeing.

The figure grinned, their eerily deformed smile easily visible from the red light produced by the swarm around their face.

"I may have fallen here. But it is from the ashes that I rise again."

The Messenger had returned.

* * *

 _ **A/N: How many of you thought this would happen?**_

 _ **Short chapter, work and school is hitting me hard, you know the drill. Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, I've obviously been focused on other things.**_

 _ **Next chapter should be out much sooner than it took this one to come out, and it should be longer too.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	61. A Weary Soul

_**It's time.**_

 _He pushes the thoughts away, trying to keep them from invading his mind. But it is a fight that he has been losing for quite some time._

 _ **Aren't you tired? How long have you endured? How much more will you force yourself to suffer?**_

 _He tightens his hands into fists, the only thing keeping him from immediately grabbing his blade and spilling his blood onto the ground as the voice suggests._

 _ **This isn't a life; not anymore. This is just survival.**_

 _ **Not just from them … but from yourself.**_

 _With a cry of anguish, he collapses onto the ground and weeps. The suffocating loneliness is all he knows, all he ever will know in this cursed existence._

 _Maybe it's right. Maybe it's time to end it all, to finally be free._

 _He unsheathes the knife that hasn't left his side in years; his constant companion, and perhaps his salvation._

 _ **This is what you want, what you've wanted for so long …**_

… _But it's not what she would want._

 _Slowly, the blade falls from his grasp, and he stares at it lying upon the ground._

 _Every day was a battle between him and the knife. Today, he had won. But tomorrow was to be seen._

 _The war was far from over._

* * *

With a gasp, Clara was jolted out of her slumber.

Slowly, she began to calm down as she glanced around and looked at her surroundings in a clearer state of mind than the hazy blood-deprived perspective she'd had earlier. She appeared to be laying in a cot, one that resided in a room much better kept than she would have expected.

The entire structure was built out of wood, but it certainly wasn't shoddy craftsmanship; the effort expended in constructing it must have been quite generous. Her mind thought back to her first impression, one of a cozy cottage; as it turned out, that description was quite apt.

There was only one room, but it was easily large enough to house two people; her cot was situated on the left side of the main entrance, a single wooden door with glass to see outside with. On the wall opposite of her, there was a large window where she could see that wherever they were, it was in the middle of a clearing in the woods. A snow-covered field stretched for a few hundred feet before meeting a wall of trees that formed the edge of the forest.

A fireplace sat burning brightly in the wall furthest from the door, and she noted with unexpected gratitude that the Hunter had placed her cot as close to its warmth as possible. The flames gave her some much needed heat in conjunction with the blankets that had been cast on top of her.

For what was essentially a shack out in the middle of the woods, the place looked very … modern. Had Woods built this all himself?

She pulled the covers off of her body and saw that instead of the metal plating that would normally protect her naval region, it was simply tightly wrapped bandages. That meant that she'd have to be a bit more careful concerning her activities until it was replaced.

Where was the Hunter? The thought came into her mind suddenly, and she searched the room. He wasn't anywhere to be found, so she could only assume he was outside.

She had a few questions for him. The last she remembered had been him telling her the next part of his tale, the one about those six Guardians … something about a 'Messenger.' She must have fallen unconscious before he finished.

Deciding to venture a bit, she tested her strength by standing up from the cot and taking a few steps. For the most part, she felt fine; those parts that Ghost had replaced must have done the trick. Or, they were at least in working order.

Opting to get a better view of what was outside the cottage, she made her way towards the door. Gripping the handle, she twisted it and swung it open easily. A breeze of brisk cold air awaited her. After a momentary shock from the temperature, she continued outside.

There was an overhang over a patio of sorts. Nothing more than a simple deck with a step down to the ground, but it was still more than she would have expected. Glancing over to the left, she saw him sitting on the edge of the porch, his legs dangling over the ledge onto the snow. Even now, he wore his hood and helmet. He never looked towards her, but she could sense that he knew she was there.

Her intuition was confirmed a moment later when he gave a small grunt. "You should be resting up."

She said nothing, and he fell silent. She waited a few moments before giving a small cough. "Thanks … for the fire and blankets."

He gave another noise, one of begrudging approval. "Your Ghost friend is off collecting more spinmetal, considering he used up the last of my supplies on replacing your vitals. We need more if we're going to fix your plating."

She had the growing feeling that he wanted to appear more nonchalant than he actually was. It gave her the confidence to engage in conversation with him.

"Hunt …" She paused, and tried again. "Woods … I have questions."

"I figured that out already," he grumbled, though she could tell it wasn't malicious; it was lighthearted if anything.

She took that as permission to proceed. With wonder, she turned to look back at the cottage and the rest of the large field that surrounded it. "Is this where you live? Did you build it?"

He hesitated, as though unsure of how to answer. "Didn't expect that to be something you'd ask." He nodded. "Yes,I built it myself."

"But how has no one ever found you?" she asked curiously.

"For those that didn't know I existed, they had no reason to search. I'm far from civilization and prying eyes." He growled, "And for those that did know I exist … searching for me would have alerted others to my potential reality, and that's the last thing they wanted."

"The Star … they knew you were real …" she said, awaiting his confirmation.

He nodded again. "Yeah. But the fact of the matter is that I was more useful as a legend than a corpse. A body is something you have to acknowledge, to validate. A legend … you can simply call it wishful thinking."

He sighed. "Not anymore, though. Now that everyone knows I'm real, they'll be on the warpath for me." He shook his head scoldingly. "Stupid, stupid, stupid …"

"Then why'd you save me?"

His head turned towards her intimidatingly, but she didn't back down. "If you knew what repercussions would occur, why bother saving my life at all?"

"Would you've rather I not have?" he muttered.

She shook her head. "No, I'm grateful. I just don't understand your reasoning."

He waved his hand at her in a dismissive fashion. "I told you already, it's just old habits dying hard-"

"I don't believe you."

He stopped quite suddenly, and glared at her. "And why's that?"

"If you truly cared about staying hidden," she countered, "you wouldn't have come at all. Or at least, you would have remained hidden while doing so. And even then, you needn't have made a scene; you could have just run while the Stag was taking his time killing me."

"What's your point?"

She paused. "You were there to die."

He only held gazes with her for another moment before turning away silently, and she knew that she had guessed right.

"I'm not here to judge you," she quickly explained. "It's just … if you were planning on dying, then why even bother saving me? It wouldn't have mattered, I had nothing to do with you."

He took a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh.

She tilted her head. "Long story?"

After a moment, he nodded. "Yeah. You could say that."

She decided that maybe she was pushing him a bit too far when it came to his suicidal tendencies. She thought back to her questions about the tale instead. "Your story, the one you were telling me … I still don't know who these people were, but you talk about them with such …"

Clara tried to think of a word to describe his tone; admiration? Regret? Pride? It was a massive mixture of emotions that constantly changed, and she couldn't settle for just one.

"What about them?"

She pressed on. "Who were they?"

He sighed. "We were friends. As close as people can be."

"Where are they now? Are they also in hiding, like you?"

He fell silent, the only noise present being the wind that cascaded over the surface of the snow.

"They're dead."

She had no response to that, having not expected such an answer.

"All of them?"

He nodded. "All of them."

She shrank a bit, feeling small at such a humbling revelation. "I … I'm sorry."

Nothing was said between them for a moment before a thought struck here. "Was … Was Matt the Hunter you talked about? The one I reminded you of?"

Woods took a moment to answer her. "Yes."

"How?"

Surprisingly, he stood up and began to walk towards the door. He pulled it open, and waited for her. She stared at him curiously.

"It's a long story," he supplied. She took the hint, and gestured towards the wilderness around them.

"I've got a lot of time."

He said nothing, but let out a content sigh. She felt that maybe … just maybe … he had a new purpose for the first time in a long time.

Without uttering a word, he entered and she followed in his wake.

* * *

 _ **A/N: 30 hour work weeks on top of a full college class schedule. Kill me now.**_

 _ **As I said, this is going to be a very long book; so don't get put off by all the setup I've been building. We're only just getting into the meat of the story, and there's a lot to tell. Might be awhile before anyone sees where this is going.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	62. Stolen

_He's nothing more than a thief. The one who stole it all away from me._

 _So, I've come up with a rather simple solution._

 _I'm going to steal it all back._

* * *

Clara looked to her midsection, where Ghost flitted about replacing the plating on her abdomen while she sat. He'd be at it for a while, since he seemed to be aiming for extreme precision with a healthy fear of messing up.

The Hunter grabbed a stool from a corner of the room, and brought it in front of her little cot next to the fire. With a tired groan, he sat down and looked at her.

"Let's get this out of the way; I'm not telling you this story because you asked me to," he iterated. "I'm telling you because … well, I've kept it to myself for a _very_ long time now. And it's become somewhat of a relief to have someone else know the truth."

She did not reply, but he could see the sparkle of curiosity in those blue eyes of hers.

"Before you can understand the impact of what happened, it's necessary for you to understand who these people _were_ … and _why_ they did what they did."

She tilted her head, and waited with anticipation.

"The six of them were known as 'the Legends' … somewhat of a fitting name for them now. Each of them had their own motivations and uniqueness that aided their contribution to the team."

His head wasn't looking directly at her; it seemed almost as if he was lost in thought, like he was trying to think of the most accurate descriptions he could. "Scorch, a Hunter. She was as young as she was headstrong. Always trying to tackle challenges far too large for her … but it only added to her character. She could be just as compassionate as she was stubborn when she wanted to be. She fought because it was her destiny."

"Aria, Warlock. Second to Scorch, she had been the youngest until the latter joined up. She was always so vibrant, and full of enthusiasm. She could get you excited about nearly anything, no matter how mundane it truly was. She was just as happy with her nose in a book as she was in the middle of a meadow … or a firefight. She fought to protect her home."

"Eager-11, a Warlock. He started out as a member of the City Task Force, back when it actually meant something. He wasn't originally a Guardian, but he became one out of necessity. I always found him to be a level-headed individual, cool under pressure and with little patience for nonsense. He fought out of necessity."

"Ash, a Titan … She …"

The Hunter took a moment of pause, and she waited patiently. Evidently, her profile was a bit more sensitive to him than others.

"… She and Matt were the first of the six to meet. From there came Aria, and then the other three. She fought out of loyalty. There's far too much to tell about her, too much for you to understand quite yet … perhaps she was the most tortured of any of them, in the end." He looked away. "Maybe even me."

She found it hard to believe that, considering what she now knew of the Hunter's history so far. But if it were true, then she did not envy the woman.

"Dawn, a clone of Ash … somewhat. Both were Exos, and Ash literally fragmented her mind in a cry for help. That fragment became Dawn, originally just a copy … but she developed her own personality, quirks, and friends. They were more like sisters than the same individual. She became her own person, and I always respected her for that. She fought because she was born for it."

He grunted. "And Matt … that Hunter I told you about."

She nodded eagerly.

"He was an outlier, someone from the past dragged into a fight that wasn't his, far in the future. But he made it his, adapting to his new life and friends as he was forced to leave his old ones behind. He was their leader … but he was not without flaws. He always tried to do too much, spread himself out too thin …"

Tentatively, she asked, "What did he fight for?"

He gave a deep sigh. "To protect the ones he loved, and never have to suffer through the death of a friend again."

A pause.

"In the end, he failed to protect them when they needed it most."

"Is that how they died?" she whispered.

He nodded. "That's how they died."

—X—

Immediately, purple energy began to flare up in Aria's hands. Eager took the hint, and allowed flames to spring up from his. Dawn seemed uneasy, and unwilling to move forward yet.

Scorch was astounded. "But … this guy died ten years ago! How is this possible?"

The Messenger gave a low-pitched giggle. He seemed to be more unhinged than the last time they'd encountered one another. "It's true, my body was nearly completely obliterated by him," he spat, his finger pointing accusingly at Matt. "But just as Guardians have the light to revive them … I had the Darkness. My soul remained, tethered to my place of death here in the ruins."

He waved his arm around at the scene of destruction around them. "It wasn't until the Fallen discovered something that I could be given yet a new chance at life. Something … beautiful." He shrugged. "Of course, that wasn't to say that it was all I needed. For starters, I needed a new body … or at least part of one."

Horror crept into Aria's voice as understanding swept through her. "Oh, God …"

Matt finally placed the pieces together. The white plates and blue eye, that was the Messenger's original body.

But that maroon plating and purple eye …

Scorch saw it too. _"… Rook?"_

"Did you know him? Oh, what a shame." The Messenger gave a mock expression of apology, half him and half Rook. His whole body was just one large horrific mesh of his original parts and Rook's.

Scorch's hands began to shake, and she sank to her knees in almost complete ignorance of their current situation. Matt didn't blame her. He knew that he'd been expecting to find a corpse … but not whatever this monstrosity was.

He was too dumbfounded to say anything. The disturbing nature of his new body aside, this was the man who'd nearly killed him, who'd come closer than anyone else ever had to extinguishing the light.

And he was back.

Next to him, Ash was having a similar reaction. But unlike him, she recovered slowly and took a cautious step forward.

"… Reynard?"

That smile on the abomination's face slowly dissipated. "You … ?"

She jumped on the opportunity. "We … we know the truth. We saw the tapes, the ones you made with Amelia and …" She paused, unsure of how to proceed.

"And you," he supplied, his tone changing into something more akin to hope.

"No," she confessed, "it was Sara who made those tapes."

His eyes narrowed. "What game is this? You are-"

She shook her head. "No. I am not Sara. Not anymore. She's dead. She gave her life to allow me to live when she crushed that crystal."

His discolored gaze met hers. "So … Sara is truly dead?"

It pained Matt to hear him say that; at the end of the day, both he and the Messenger were friends of the same woman, replaced with the one standing next to him. The difference was that Matt had accepted it, and moved on.

The Messenger, clearly, had not.

"Then I suppose that means that I have nothing left." His tone turned darker, and the red-rimmed grin returned. "Nothing to hold me back."

Matt held up his hands, opting to take a new approach then the one they'd entertained in the past. "Look, this doesn't need to end in bloodshed."

"Speak for yourself." Scorch's voice was low, and filled with rage. _"I'll kill him if it's the last thing I do!"_

"Dawn!" he called quickly, and without missing a step the Titan quickly wrapped her arms around her and kept her from charging forward as she'd just been about to. He knew enough about the Messenger to understand that even if he was potentially weakened, he was the most formidable foe they'd ever faced. He'd kill her easily.

" _Let me go!"_ she screamed, but Dawn did not give in. Assuring that she had control of the situation, Matt continued.

"I know your reasoning, I know what you've been through." He hated him, but he was willing to let it go for the sake of everyone's safety. "I had to go through it too … accepting that she was dead."

The Messenger tilted his head. "How … how do you know of Sara?"

Matt sighed. "I'm … I'm the one she waited for. The one she left behind when she died."

The red haze around the Messenger's purple and blue eyes glowed brighter as he widened the metallic caps. "You … you're Mathias?"

He nodded.

Unexpectedly, the Messenger gave a bark of laughter. "I'll be damned. This is more than fate, this is _destiny._ You and I, two sides of the same coin!"

"Please, we can just-" Matt tried again, but the Messenger cut him off.

"She waited for _years_ to see you again, only to break when she found you were dead." He shook his head. "Yet, you seem to have moved on quite well without her. You're not fit to speak her name."

Matt growled, quickly losing patience for the insane Exo. "You don't have to serve the Darkness any more! Look at what Sara did! What Amelia did! They-"

"This isn't about the Darkness any more," the Messenger cooly stated. "Every plot it's thrown at you has failed, it has given up trying to destroy the Traveler. Instead, it's set its sights on different prey."

"And that would be?"

That same red grin met them again, full of buzzing amidst the swarm that surrounded the Messenger's head.

"Revenge."

New swarms of that same red haze that surrounded the messenger sprung from his fists. They jumped at their feet, and began to form into miniature whirlwinds, crackling with red electricity.

The red clouds around them spun at ridiculously high velocities, and he had no doubt that if they touched the walls surrounding them they'd be shredded.

"You …" The Messenger began, his voice rising in volume. "You stole everything from me. Now …"

He tightened his hand into a fist. "I'm going to return the favor."

Without warning, his swarm spat him backwards onto the hard ground. He tumbled for a moment before landing flat on his stomach, and looking back at his imprisoned friends. With fear in his eyes, he looked towards the Messenger who pulled his hood forward and covered his face.

"The Fallen are just the first step. Soon, SIVA will find a home in all who serve the Darkness! And when that happens, you will know fear."

A red grid appeared, one that looked like some kind of corrupted transmat. It surrounded the Fallen, the Messenger and the other Legends as they slowly began to fade out of existence.

"If you want them back, you'll have to find them. And when you do, you'll lose … everything."

"NO!" Matt shouted, and he charged forward. But it was too late.

By the time he had reached them, they were gone.

Seraph materialized, and began rapidly scanning the area. "I can't trace them! That transmat had some kind of foreign signature, unknown. Whatever it is, it's blocking me out!"

He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

This moment had been coming a long time. No one had believed him, they thought he was paranoid. Now, he'd seen the consequences of being right firsthand.

But he was still free … which meant that the Messenger wanted him to find them. There was still a chance they could win.

He could still save them.


	63. Ghosts of Iron

_She was afraid._

 _Where was she? She searched for an answer, but all she could see was red._

 _She could not move. Her body did not respond to her commands, not anymore. She tried to run, to flee from whatever awful place this was, but to no avail._

 _Where were the others, the other four taken alongside her? She could not look, but she could still …_ _ **feel**_ _them._

 _She sent forth a few tentative touches, trying to probe where they might be. She recoiled when she saw that they were like her; trapped in this prison of red._

 _She could feel others, connected by a web of red tendrils and vines; the Fallen, though they did not view this as a prison. They remained in control, shared their body with this parasite rather than let it empty them of themselves._

 _And … others. Other allies of the Darkness, allowing themselves to be enhanced by this … this … red._

 _Was everything one and the same? Tied together by all the red?_

 _She did not know; but she kept her discovery to herself, in the event that it would be necessary for her._

 _For now, she would wait, and hide, and pray that there was still a way out of this._

* * *

"Matt!"

He pushed through the throngs of Guardians running from place to place around the Tower. He'd notified the Vanguard immediately of the Messenger's return, and that they needed to alert the Ciy to a possible outbreak of whatever that red stuff was.

No one had expected him to be right, and now they were paying the price.

Ash and the others more than anyone else.

Ash …

He clenched his hands tightly. He'd lost Sara, unable to save her as her own body slowly killed her.

He wasn't going to lose Ash as well.

"Slow down- wait!"

Seraph hovered after him, trying to calm him down. She didn't get it, didn't understand that he-

"Plan this through, you're not thinking clearly-"

He spun around on his heel, and spoke in lowered tones to the Ghost. "I'm thinking as clearly as I can right now. The Messenger challenged me to find them, and that's what I'm going to do. Every second we spend arguing about this here is another second closer to losing them forever."

She had no real response for that, having seen the reasoning behind his rashness now. "Well … how are you going to find them?"

He turned around again, heading for the Hangar. "Access every database that we have, I don't care if it's encrypted or if I have the proper clearance or not; make it work. Once you're in, look for any mention of what the Messenger called it; Seeva or something."

Not waiting for her to reply, he made his way through the corridor that lead to Amanda's realm. Stepping into the hangar, he spotted the Javelin nearby and walked briskly towards it.

He didn't bother with waiting for the boarding ramp to appear, and let Seraph simply materialize him directly into the cockpit. A grid of blue surrounded him, and he felt himself make contact with the pilot's chair a moment before he reached forward and flicked on the engines and other systems.

"There are no official documents on whatever this thing is," Seraph finally revealed, having been scouring the databases for information. "But … there's an interesting note that maybe has to do with what we're looking for."

"What is it?"

She pulsed. "It's from Lord Saladin."

He remembered the man from many years back, during the battle for the Traveler. He, Ash, and Aria had been too late to save him as he was killed by none other than the Messenger, his soul consumed by the Darkness of the Thorn. Maybe, even in death, he'd be able to spare them from his own fate.

"Nothing about this 'Seeva' thing, but it reads as follows; 'If the red plague has been unleashed, then you will find your answers at Felwinter peak. It is up to you.'"

The Ghost glanced at him. "From the sound of it, Saladin was familiar with whatever this thing was and left behind a note in case he wasn't able to stop it himself. Seeing as he's been dead for a decade, I guess it's up to us."

His fingers tightened around the stick of the controls. "I guess it is."

—X—

"Felwinter peak?"

The Hunter nodded solemnly. "Yes, the same one you and I met on."

Her metallic mouth twisted itself into an 'o,' her surprise written all over her face.

"When Mathias found it, it wasn't the populated top of the world you saw the other day," he continued. "It had long since been abandoned, untouched since Saladin had passed. And it was there that he was able to piece together what exactly he was up against."

"What was he up against?" she asked quietly.

"An abomination," he growled, "something with the capabilities of building worlds that was being used for nothing other than to tear them down."

He titled his head up slightly at her. "SIVA."

—X—

The wind howled loudly as snow gusted over the edges of the peak. Now that he was on the ground, Matt could see that it was some kind of observatory; perhaps an astronomy research station or similar. Obviously, it had been repurposed in the centuries after its initial use; a symbol could be seen emblazoned on the massive door that allowed entry, one of two hands holding an axe over a shield. He could only assume that it held meaning to Saladin.

Pressing on, he found himself in an courtyard, stone stairs and paths cut into the mountain. Ahead of him was a rather large structure, what appeared to be a temple fashioned from the infrastructure of the observatory. It wasn't long before he found himself in front of its massive set of doors, and he hurriedly pushed them open.

Surprisingly, they swung open without much resistance in spite of their weight. Evidently, whoever had constructed them had done a good job.

As he walked into the temple, he couldn't help but notice how dark it was. No one had been here for years, and it showed; he detected stale air and a slight draft that must have been coming from a crack somewhere in the walls.

"Seraph?" he whispered, and waited for the Ghost to materialize. Once she did, she hovered into the center of the room and pulsed brightly, emitting a rather illuminating aura of light. Finally, he was able to see a fire pit, waiting for someone to ignite it. Obliging, he summoned a small bit of solar energy and reached his hand out to spark it.

The room was immediately bathed in light, and they were able to see properly. Next to the pit were two statues of wolves, positioned as though they were encircling him. Not menacingly; but obediently.

He drew a sharp intake of breath upon seeing the many large statues of Guardians along the back wall, all in statures of nobility and esteem. His attention was quickly diverted, however, when he saw several technological plaques that hung upon the pillars that segregated the statues. They seemed to tell a story of some kind.

Seraph flew up to the first one, illuminating them and trying to garner some understanding from them. "They're not just pictures, they have retrievable data … according to these, this was the temple of the Iron Lords; one of the first major groups of Guardian alliances."

He raised an eyebrow. "First? How long ago did they live?"

"A few centuries at least," Seraph answered, sounding almost absentminded. "The Traveler did lengthen life-spans after all, but … most tend to let themselves go after they've experienced enough."

That made sense to him, people coming to terms with how long they'd lived and giving in; there was a reason Exo's chose to wipe their minds, after all. Sometimes living too long was a punishment rather than a gift.

"It seems that they discovered something in their journey to save humanity from the brink of extinction," she muttered. "A technology long-since forgotten from the Golden Age, guarded by the Warmind Rasputin."

If it was technology related, he had no doubt that Clovis Bray was somehow behind it. That research corporation had damn near invented the future with how many ideas were pumped out of it, not to mention their most notable achievement being the Exos.

"It was called … SIVA."

Matt nodded. "That's what we're after. What does it do, and how do we counter it?"

Seraph continued reading the plaques, hoping to find answers to his questions. "When they tried to retrieve it, Rasputin intervened. He killed many of them, and only a small handful made it into the core. Apparently, they'd been hoping to use SIVA to construct starships, help form colonies and methods to take back humanity's worlds. The only limit was the user's imagination …"

She shuddered. "But instead, it corrupted them, twisted them. It began to infect them one by one, turning them against one another until drastic measures were taken. Saladin himself was forced to kill his former friends to end their suffering before he sealed the core for good."

He swallowed hard, suddenly imagining himself in that same situation. They had to find the others _now._ "Then how is it back?"

She hovered to the next placard. "The core was just a general facility for testing and final inspection. What they encountered was a small strain of SIVA that had remained relatively unchanged other than its newfound aggression."

She paused. "But there is one place Saladin dared not venture into; an inner sanctum buried beneath Russia, what was apparently a manufacturing site for it, its very birthplace. Wherever that is, it would presumably hold the rest of SIVA's resources, the last existing strain that has quite possibly mutated over the centuries into something … horrific."

His eyes widened. "That's it now, isn't it? It's not just building or infecting anymore; the Fallen found it, and now it's meshing with them, enhancing them … they're able to _control_ it."

He turned away. "This isn't just revenge, even if the Messenger thinks it is; this is the final effort of the Darkness, its last push against the City. It can enhance its armies, give them another edge against us in the fight-"

Facing Seraph, he came to more startling realizations. "It won't need to destroy humanity if it can bend them to its will … what if it's going to set it loose against _us?_ The war would be over in a day. Less than that."

The Ghost blinked worriedly at him. "Well, what can we do?"

Quickly, he gave her orders; "Tell the Vanguard to begin monitoring activity on Mars and Venus. Let them know to be aware of any unusual activity indicative of the Vex or Cabal amassing anywhere, I don't think we'll have to worry about the Hive too much. Other than that, they need to be watching the walls and making sure that nothing gets in that can possibly infect the population."

She pulsed blue, and looked back at him. "Done. And … us?"

"We're going to find the others and the Messenger. And when we do …"

He held the Hawkmoon out in his right hand, spinning the barrel with a satisfying _click._

"I'm going to kill him."


	64. The Taken War

_**A/N: This chapter is what I told you all was going to happen a while ago; while it doesn't necessarily add much to the current story, it does cover the ONLY part of the Taken War that was even relatively impactful on GND's storyline. So, if it seems kind of 'out-of-the-way' or something, that's probably because it is. Hope you enjoy it anyway.**_

* * *

Woods took a moment to take pause and see how she was faring so far. Clara hoped he was able to see the wonder and intrigue in her features; she was truly immersed in his story.

After confirming that she was paying attention, he turned away to stare around at the walls of the cabin. She had the feeling that he hadn't had to talk to anyone in quite a long time, and was having difficulty making conversation other than his retelling of history. She decided to throw him a bone.

"So … I gather that Mathias cared about his friends a lot."

He stared at her blankly, his visor obscuring whatever face was behind the helmet. She felt as though he was nonverbally indicating that should have been obvious. She shrugged under his scrutiny and explained, "I mean, I just felt like commenting on it. Seems like it should be recognized."

He sighed. "Well, you're right. He- he cared more about them than they ever knew. Or maybe they did. I hope that's the case."

She nodded. "I'm sure it is. Especially for Ash; seems like he and her really were something. Best friends?"

"Lovers."

That surprised her, and her eyes widened momentarily. Upon reflection, she thought that maybe she should have seen the signs, but it seemed as though the Hunter had almost deliberately been avoiding telling her that.

"An Exo and a human?"

"Yes. What about it?" he muttered.

She was a bit unsettled by his tone. "Nothing, I just- I never considered such a possibility. I would have thought that a relationship like that would be looked down upon."

He nodded understandingly. "You would be right. For a time, anyway. Once they sealed the bond between the two of them, there wasn't much anyone could really do except adapt to-"

"Sealed the bond?" she interrupted curiously.

He waved his hand dismissively. "You know, married each other."

Now her eyes widened further. "They even married?"

He thought for a moment that she was expressing ridicule. "I get that the notion is abnormal-"

"They must have really loved each other."

He fell silent, unsure of how to react to her sentiment. After a moment, he nodded. "Yes. They did."

She leaned forward as Ghost watched them with intrigue. Even the Hunter's Ghost materialized and paid apt attention to Woods, encouraging him to expand upon what he'd just said.

He gave a small chuckle, a fond memory crossing his mind. "I don't suppose you'd like to hear how that happened?"

With a small smile on her face, Clara nodded slightly.

He sighed, but not with weariness; more like a pleasant breath of satisfaction.

"Thought you might."

* * *

 **THE DREADNAUGHT, MANY YEARS AGO**

* * *

" _You know,"_ yelled Dawn as she narrowly avoided a burst of flame from a Taken Knight, _"when I heard he was called, 'the Taken King,' I didn't actually think he'd be the Taken King!"_ Raising her aim up as she came out of her roll, she landed a few shots right between her attacker's eyes.

Matt had to agree with her; he'd figured that it was just a title for the fact that Oryx ruled the Taken in some twisted form of a monarchy. But after they'd defeated him the first time, the Hive-god had used his own power on himself and disappeared into his throne-world.

Now, they were battling a massive white and black Taken incarnation of their former enemy, and he was a much more formidable foe than he'd been before.

Around the Dreadnaught, a dogfight between the Reef's, City's, and Hive's ships was taking place. While they tried to prevent the Dreadnaught from making it any further towards Earth, the Legends' job was to take out the King. And so here they were. Problem was, Matt wasn't sure they were going to last much longer.

Flowers of fire and metal blossomed out in the asteroid belt as ally and enemy ships alike tore each other apart. Here, in this final encounter aboard what seemed to be the top of the ship, they had quite the view of the explosions.

And they weren't faring much better in here; in his throne world, Oryx could only be killed by an Ascendant Hive. Considering that business when they'd killed Crota, they all counted as Ascendant and any of them could take the shot; problem was that making that shot was increasingly difficult. His power over the Darkness was too strong to be killed by anything other than a massive amount of light to counteract him.

Trying to channel all of that into him was taking a lot of time that they didn't have, and energy that they were quickly losing. Their speed was waning as they continued to constantly dodge and try to press the advantage only to be forced back time and time again.

" _Don't know-"_ grunted Scorch from off to his left, _"how long- we can- keep this-"_

A Taken Thrall appears next to her in a flash, and extended its claws to cleave off what it could. Ducking backwards, she barely managed to evade and shove her knife into its gaseous skull. It dematerialized into a point of light with an ethereal scream, and was no more.

" _Look out!"_ yelled a familiar voice from off to his right, and he felt himself get shoved down as someone jumped on top of him. A moment later, a blast of fire went soaring right through where his head had been a moment ago.

Ash rolled off of him, and planted a Ward of Dawn around them. As he watched, enemy projectiles kept raining down upon it, trying to break it apart. Ash groaned, her concentration faltering as she tried to hold everything together.

Oryx waved one of his hands and blasted it with a pulse of dark energy. It shattered, and Ash crumpled to the ground in a daze. Dawn immediately moved to pick up the slack, raising her own shield around them as Ash's dissipated.

Matt moved to her side, grabbing her firmly and trying to lift her onto her feet. Their fight wasn't over yet … but he feared it might soon be.

Her visor depolarized, and he saw a look on her face that told him she felt the same; that maybe this was it.

If it was … then he didn't want to leave anything unsaid.

" _Get … ready … guys!"_ Dawn grunted, finally giving way and releasing her strength. At once, enemies surged forward on all sides.

"Ash," Matt began, trying to multitask as he spoke and combated the Taken simultaneously, "listen; there's been something I've been meaning to ask you-"

" _On your right!"_ shouted Eager, and he quickly adjusted to dispatch of the Acolyte that had almost taken a potshot at them.

" _What is it?"_ she called back.

"Well," he started nervously; this hadn't been the situation he'd planned to do this in. "You and I have been together for a few years now-"

He heard murmurs over the comms as the others tried to figure out exactly what he was going on about, as if this wasn't awkward enough.

"And I've been wanting to ask you this for a while, but I just never felt it was the right time-"

" _Oh you've got to be kidding me,"_ he caught Eager groan as he realized what Matt was doing. _"Is this really the best time for this?!"_

Ignoring the Exo, he pressed on hastily. "But if we don't make it out of this, then I don't wan to die without at least having asked you-"

" _Is this happening?!"_ Aria exclaimed in both excitement and consternation, _"Why did it take you so long to ask?!"_

"Shut it!" he ordered to the Warlock, hoping to retain at least _some_ shred of dignity. "Look, I just- I truly love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you-"

" _Which may not be very long-"_

"-and I was wondering if, assuming we survive this, you … would you marry me?"

Ash had remained silent throughout the entirety of his speech, and continued to do so now. Turning around to look at why she wasn't responding, he saw that she had disappeared altogether.

"Where is she?!" he called out, now with the rest of them turning to look at where she'd gone as well.

" _I don't know, there's no sign of-"_

Scorch's comm cut out unexpectedly, and he spun to see that she too had vanished. Gripping his weapon tightly, he prepared for whatever threat was facing them now-

He felt himself get pulled out of reality briefly, and then thrown into … somewhere. Nowhere. A void of some kind. Looking around, he saw a ring of white fire surrounding him, and nothing but fog beyond that-

Hearing a roar of anger, he rotated to see Scorch and Ash battling against what appeared to be some Echo of Oryx. Was this what they needed to defeat in order to kill Oryx?

The Hunter noticed him, and beckoned her head towards the Echo. _"A little help?!"_

He quickly leapt into action, emptying his chamber into the beast. It didn't do much other than to piss it off, and it lashed out by moving startling quick towards him and swinging a massive blade downward.

He dodged just in time to see Eager appear, and spin around in confusion. _"What's going-? Oh, shit!"_

The Warlock retreated towards Scorch and Ash who were moving up to support Matt. Rolling away towards them, he was able to see Dawn and Aria pop into existence as well. The two of them looked quite confused before glancing towards the others and seeing their predicament.

With another roar, the Echo swung the blade downward and sank it into the ground with an air of finality. It began to glow, and the white fire began to ominously turn red.

All six of them felt the same pain that they'd felt when Crota has called upon his oversoul. They tried to hold their composure, but buckled under the strain.

" _Matt!"_

He tried to hold himself together enough to look to where Ash was crawling forward on the ground, extending her hand towards him. She wanted him to take it.

Slowly, he resisted through the pain and clasped hers hand tightly. At least they had one another-

Using his hand as leverage, she pulled herself forward to gain even the slightest bit of speed. Landing on her hands and feet, she used what was left of her remaining energy to jump into the air and slam her fists into the Echo.

Arcs of lighting traveled from her hands into the Echo's form, and it gave a cry of pain as it began to burn away into ashes. As he watched, the void around them began to glow brighter, and brighter, and-

With a flash, they were back in proper reality. Glancing around confusedly, Matt's attention was drawn to the sight of Oryx hunching over himself, gripping his chest as it glowed a bright white. The light continued to expand until a massive shockwave erupted from his torso, and knocked all of them onto their backs.

When he managed to stand again, he saw what was left of Oryx's corpse slowly drifting away from the Dreadnaught, towards the body of Saturn where it would spend an eternity frozen in the vacuum of space.

Looking towards the dogfight outside, the Hive understandably ceased their attack and began to retreat to safety. Their King was dead; there was nothing left for them to die for.

"Is that it, then?" Dawn waved her hands in an expectant gesture, as though waiting for something else to happen.

Wanting to see Oryx's death with his own eyes, Matt pulled off his helmet and inhaled the stale, rotting air of the Dreadnaught. This time, he did so with satisfaction. "That's it."

"Not quite," came a voice from his side. He saw Ash walking towards him, her helmet gone as well.

Without waiting for him to understand, she grabbed the collar of his armor and pulled him down to her for a kiss. He was stunned into inaction by her boldness before she separated and smiled.

" _Yes."_

Understanding dawning in his mind, he returned her smile and embraced her tightly.

This was going to be quite the story to tell later.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Aaaaaaand that's basically the only important part of the Taken War that I was going to write. Like I've said, there wasn't much that its storyline could add to the overarching plot of GND, so that's the main reason I cut it out.**_

 _ **Sorry for the delay between updates; I hope that the fluff in here makes up for it. Plus, we're getting back to normal length chapters now. Next one will be continuing the current story of the Last Hunter and Clara.**_

 _ **Reviews are always appreciated!**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	65. A Debt Repaid

" _So … it just gave it to you?"_

" _Well, I mean, I_ _ **did**_ _have to kill a baron for it … but yeah, basically."_

" _I've certainly never seen one of the Fallen do something like that …"_

" _Well, we're usually not saving their lives; more often then not, we're the ones killing them."_

" _That's a fair point."_

" _So what do you think it means?"_

" _Might mean nothing. But … I've got a feeling."_

" _Yeah?"_

" _The Kings are definitely more … well, noble than the other houses, not to poke fun at their name. They don't just scavenge around looking for tech to add to their arsenal, and they're not banished exiles living on a dead rock. They have pride, they keep to themselves, and they're smart."_

" _What's your point?"_

" _Ultimately, I think that they'll do whatever gets them the farthest in the long run. And if that means repaying a debt to a Guardian that saved their life … then that's what will happen."_

" _So …?"_

" _I think it's a promise. That if and when I need help … they'll be there for me."_

" _That's a nice sentiment, but I can't imagine a scenario where we'll need to count on the help of the Kings."_

" _You never know."_

* * *

 **KINGS' WATCH, THE COSMODROME**

* * *

The Guardian walked through their territory, unintimidated and undeterred by the various decorations of Hive and human skulls alike, stuck upon metal spits as trophies for all to see. Did they not know that this was dangerous terrain for anyone other than Eliksni?

As the first line of scouts waited unseen in the shadows, the Guardian stopped and glanced around at them with steel in their gaze. They were not used to this show of behavior from a foe.

As he mulled on that thought, he decided to call them out. "Seraph, translate for me."

The Ghost waited on his word, ready to speak on his behalf to the Kings.

"Kings," Matt called, "I know you surround me, and are wondering why I've come to you. I demand to speak to one of your Barons, one who was saved by a Guardian several years ago." Seraph emitted croak-like noises, the tongue of the Fallen.

No response came. He clenched his jaw. "I do not seek a fight with you. But if you do not bring him to me, I will find him myself."

At that, he heard the sound of soft hissing that was so signature to the Fallen from the debris and rocks around him. So far, he could spot several cloaked individuals already, as well as a few pairs of eyes glowing in the cover of shadows.

He held his ground, and waited.

Apparently, something he said must have worked. It wasn't a minute before a larger Fallen emerged from the dilapidated buildings, and approached him with suspicion in its eyes. After coming to a stop, it stared at him and Seraph before yelling incoherently at the Ghost.

"His name is Paskin, and he demands that you get on with it," she explained. "He doesn't appreciate you summoning him."

Heeding her advice, he drew Aria's shock-blade from his side slowly, and held it out for the Baron to see. Paskin's body lost the tense rage that had been prevalent in his behavior, and stared at the weapon as he remembered its story. Taking a risk, Matt presented it to him, and allowed the Baron to hold it in his own grasp. Paskin maneuvered it in his clawed hands, inspecting it as one would a memento.

Finally, he chittered to Matt in a much less hostile tone.

"He remembers the blade, as well as the Guardian he gave it to. She saved his life, and that's not a debt he took lightly. He wants to know where she is, and why you're here in her place."

He nodded. "She, as well as a few others, were taken by the Messenger and the Devils who brought him back with SIVA."

The Baron seemed taken aback at the news, dumbfounded even. "He had no idea that the Messenger had returned, but he does not know what SIVA is."

"A disease," replied Matt, "a red plague that has been discovered by them, and threatens to unleash itself upon everything."

Now, there was a look of understanding in the Fallen's eyes, and he hissed softly. "The Kings' do not align themselves with the Devils, and therefore are not certain of anything … but they've heard the rumors amongst the sects of different Houses, and seen the hints of what you speak of in the lands they dare not enter."

"What lands?"

"The Plaguelands, as they're colloquially known. They lie beyond the cosmodrome, corrupted by the sickness you seek. The Devils have made it their home, growing more twisted with every passing day. The Kings may be powerful … but one does not survive through brawn alone. They're smart enough to stay out, lest they risk the wrath of whatever disturbing weapon the Splicers have found themselves."

"Splicers?" He was beginning to think that the Baron was giving him more questions than answers.

"A type of faction within each House of Fallen, technology manipulators. They're the ones who mess around with stuff they're probably not supposed to mention. And it seems that the Devils' are the ones who got their hands on SIVA first."

He tightened his fists. If the Splicers were experimenting with SIVA further, they might eventually learn to adapt it to an even greater degree of destruction. It looked like his fears about SIVA spreading to other armies of the Darkness weren't unfounded.

"The core is sealed away for good; that sanctum you mentioned has to be where Aria and the others are. Where did the Devils go to find the sanctum?"

She relayed the question to Paskin who looked at Matt.

"All he knows is that the Devils blew a rather sizable hole in the wall several miles from our position. Underneath that, they found … something evil."

The Baron continued, and Seraph pulsed with concentration. "The Fallen served the Darkness in the hope of reclaiming the Traveler and their lost civilization from centuries ago. The Kings know now that the Darkness has its own agenda, and they do not mind providing you with this information in the hopes of stopping whatever plan it has now. After that, his debt is repaid."

Paskin pointed eastward, over the mountains of rubble and towards the wall that stretched high into the sky. "He says that it's in that direction. If the Devils took them anywhere, it would be there."

Slowly, the Baron turned and began to walk away. After a few paces, he stopped and gave one last parting chitter.

"Ordinarily, he wouldn't think that we have a chance. But … Guardians have surprised him before."

Finally, the Baron and the rest of the Kings left Matt alone with his Ghost and the inklings of a plan.

"So we know where the sanctum is," Seraph muttered. "What are you thinking?"

He rotated around to look at the direction in which Paskin had pointed them. Silently, he walked back towards their ship a few hundred yards away. She was surprised by his mute temperament.

"Matt?"

He paused, and looked back at her. "Seraph … this is it. The final push of the Darkness. Something I've been dreading for years, and- and I don't know if I'm ready."

She hovered closer, hanging onto his every word.

"If we don't stop it, then humanity is at risk once again. But this time, there's no escape. We don't know of a way to counteract this stuff, even if there is one. At this point, I'm making this up as I go. I'm going to go down there, and I'm going to kill the Messenger. But then … what?"

He shook his head. "Will that save them? Can they even be saved? What about the City? I just … I don't know."

Quietly, she flew over to him and spoke with comfort and determination in her voice. "Whatever happens, we'll face it together. I've been with you since the beginning, and I'm not going anywhere now. Okay?"

After a moment, he nodded appreciatively and continued his progress towards the Javelin.

It was time to finish this.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the short update. Just no other way to lengthen this chapter without dragging it out.**_

 _ **The good news is that the next few chapters will all be full to the brim of content and action. Don't worry though; we're still nowhere near the end. Like I said, this one's a massive book.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	66. Shadow of the Sanctum

_I remember when I first made love._

 _The emotional and physical closeness of another, to literally and spiritually become one with someone; to take two halves and join them together in a bond so deep that it seals their souls into one mind, one thought, one life together … it is an act of the utmost intimacy, one that many strive for but may never truly achieve in their lifetime._

 _I recall how cold it had been that night. The sheets were nothing compared to the warmth of his body, providing me with a sense of comfort that I had never known I'd needed. In my mind, I thought that this was the ultimate form of validation; to have someone want you, to have someone need you, to have someone become your other half._

 _In a sense, the red is making love to me now._

 _It is close, pressing in around me everywhere; in my body, in my mind. It has taken this act of boundless intimacy, one that I cherished, and corrupted it to its own depraved purposes. It has joined us through a bond of death, so that one cannot live without the other. We have become one not by merging the two of us into one new entity, but rather by it consuming me and reshaping me into its image._

 _The red wants me. The red needs me. And it has become my other half; but it has done so through oppression, not consent._

 _This is the only love it knows, and so it has become that this is the only love I know; the love of the red as it forces itself upon my mind, body, and soul, my only purpose in existence now to be its pawn, a tool of its perverse machinations._

 _I scream, but no sound escapes me. I am no longer the master of my destiny._

 _The red is._

* * *

The Javelin circled around the scene of destruction with caution. Below them was the massive blast site that Paskin had warned them about, where an incredibly large section of the wall had been blown away to reveal what they'd been searching for; something to do with the sanctum.

Matt stared at the monitors of the Javelin's cockpit, analyzing the area with great scrutiny. The wreckage of the wall lay scattered across hundreds of meters in any direction, with a great majority of it stretching to the interior rather than outward. Parts of it were sunken beneath the surface of the sea, while smaller, more shrapnel-like chunks had washed up on the beaches some distance away.

But that wasn't what they were after, no. Their target was below, where the wall had once remained intact. Beneath where this section of the wall had once stood, a plateau of rock stood above the vast expanse of sea and almost beckoned to them with its defiance to the rest of its environment. Along a narrow path that it led down, one could see that the mountainous foundation upon which the other side of the wall resided on was cracked open. A cave-like entrance awaited their arrival, but nothing beyond the first few meters could be seen from up here in the Javelin.

Sighing, he let go of the controls and trusted Seraph to keep them steady in the air until they were clear of the ship. At his presence, the docking ramp of the ship descended and allowed him access to the open air. He took a few tentative steps forward, trying to picture his jump before going through with it. When he was satisfied with the trajectory he'd chosen, he took a deep breath and leapt off the ramp.

The air around him screamed as he tore through it, streaking downward with as little wind resistance as he could manage. The ship pulled away and into the upper atmosphere where it would wait until he returned.

 _If_ he returned.

His descent coming to an end, he channeled as much of his shields into his feet as he could, and angled himself properly to absorb the impact. He may not have thrusters like a Titan or Warlock, but that was a Hunter's strength; they found workarounds for their flaws in their wit.

The ground rushed up to meet him, and all of his momentum was dispersed through the shields and into the ground beneath him. It shook slightly from the force, but other than that remained as it was. He stood up from his kneeling position and checked his systems to make sure they were all in order. As far as he could tell, no damage had been done.

Now ready to proceed, he stared ahead at the cave into which he'd be entering. Seraph appeared next to him, and glanced at him out of the corner of her blue eye.

"Like I said; together."

He took a deep breath to steady his nerves again. Among his emotions were fear, rage, and desperation, none of which would help him to succeed. He needed a cool head, and a steady hand.

"Together."

Stepping forward, he walked across the thin bridge of rock that connected this outcrop to the main body of rock that the cave led into. Upon venturing a few meters past the initial walls of the entrance, he found that a hole had been carved downward into the ground, unknown depths waiting for someone to delve into them. Hesitation absent in his behavior, he took the plunge.

This time, rather than using his shielding to absorb the impact, he held onto the natural curves of the hole as it rounded every so often, using his hand to guide his body down without hitting anything and his feet to scrape along the side and slow his descent when necessary. Finally, it evened into a straight drop and he fell for several meters into the open air of a large cavern before his feet made contact with the ground and he bent low to brace against his fall. Standing once more, he took the time to examine his surroundings with care.

The open cave into which he'd fallen was rather ordinary, even if unusually large. The only remarkable thing about it was the wreckage of what appeared to be part of a Warmind bunker, or at least some kind of structure with the same sort of structure and appearance that they held, built into the rock. Black panels and silver struts lay cast aside as the Fallen had presumably torn into the side of what they could see until they finally revealed an entrance.

The sanctum awaited.

—X—

The Hunter gave a tired sigh, and looked out the large window of the cabin. Clara followed his gaze, noting that it was getting dark out and there wasn't really much to look at outside. This gave her the idea that maybe he was just trying to _appear_ like he was looking at something; did he not want to continue?

"Are you alright?" she asked softly, her concern for his mental health only becoming more genuine with every day she spent with him.

He did not answer her, not at first. It took him another minute before he inhaled sharply, and rotated his masked head to stare at her once more. "Yes. I'm sorry, it's just- well, none of this is really pleasant to think about."

She mulled that over, having to retell a story of your friend's doomed journey to rescue his friends. Living through it must have been bad enough, but it was Woods who apparently drew the short stick; all of the others were dead now, and he was just left to carry on their memory in a world that didn't care to remember them.

"If you don't want to keep going, you can stop-"

"No, it's not that," he quickly replied, dismissing her offer. "I just needed a minute. I think you're right, I- I think I've been needing to tell someone about this for a long time now."

She stared at him innocently, still unwilling to push him into something he didn't want to do. He saw it in her eyes, her reluctance to bring him any distress, and he chuckled lightly.

"Honestly, it's alright. Now, where was I?"

—X—

He clambered over the rocks and into the rhombus-shaped hallway that was so common amongst these kinds of bunkers. Only this one wasn't well-lit and illuminated with blue lighting like the others he'd visited. Instead, almost every panel and tile on the walls and floor was black, and there was an almost hazy fog that enveloped everywhere he walked. It was not visible immediately, but could rather be seen on the edges of his vision as well as farther distances in front of him.

Dammit, he didn't like anything about this.

Seraph hovered close to him, unwilling to venture far from safety in such an ominous location. "So, uh … this is terrifying. I know you said you were making this up as you go, but you have to have _some_ semblance of a plan by now, right?"

He was unsure of how to answer her; indeed, his mind had been turning certain ideas over in his head but he was unsure of how well they would play out in practice. He decided to elaborate as they walked, hoping that if anything it would help him to solidify a proper plan of action.

"Well, we know that the Messenger expects me to find him; so I have a good feeling that he's prepared for anything I can think of." He shrugged, though he was much more uneasy than the nervous facade he was presenting to her. "Not much we can do about that. But if he's really planning to spread this to the rest of the Darkness's armies, then be prepared for us to be facing a bit more than Fallen down here."

She looked at him in worry. "And … what about the others?"

His heart ached at the thought of what the Messenger could have done to them … but he knew what the most likely outcome was. Rather than answering, he kept silent to avoid from having to voice it aloud.

Seraph understood the gist of his fears from that silence, and looked down dejectedly. "Matt … you don't think-"

"The fact of the matter is that we can't let the Messenger move forward with this attack," he said with gritted teeth. "If SIVA's let loose upon the City, it's all over. We have to stop him … no matter the cost."

She was shocked by that sentiment. "After all these years of trying so hard to protect everyone … you're willing to give up on them?"

He was shaking his head before she'd even finished her sentence. "Not a chance. I just know that breaking down isn't going to give me a better chance of rescuing them. If we're going to pull this off, we need all of our wits about us. I'd rather be braced for the worst and be right than have unrealistic hope and be crushed."

He gave a wavering sigh, his voice trembling in spite of his words. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not still desperately hoping that they're alive."

Seraph had no answer for that, and decided to just stay silent.

A door slid open with a smooth scrape of metal, and they walked through cautiously. Before moving on, Matt made sure to check their surroundings for any infected Fallen that may have been awaiting them. Thankfully, all was silent.

"What is this place?"

He turned to get a better look at the room upon hearing the Ghost's question, and furrowed his brow. A single path led forward before splitting, with every side and space not on the path taken up by rectangular pillars that connected the floor to the ceiling. But they didn't look like they were there for structural support; lights winked in and out of existence along their exteriors, and they seemed to be more machine-oriented than they appeared at first glance.

"I don't know," he muttered, "but I'm more worried about what those things are."

They meandered along the path, erring on the side of vigilance around the pillars. He glanced at a few of them, noting that most of them had glass containers built into them, little flowers of that same red growth that was signature of SIVA blooming inside of them. With a bit more fear, he realized that some of them were broken and their contents were gone.

"Mathias?" Seraph whispered with an unsettled edge in her tone. She never used his full first name, not unless she was discussing something with a deadly seriousness … or deadly level of fear. "What the hell is this?"

He remembered an image from long ago, and compared the similarities to the room they were standing in now. The only differences appeared to be their purpose. "They're servers, data servers; but they're not just being used for software or storage … you said that the sanctum was the birthplace of SIVA?"

"That's right," she confirmed, her voice still wavering. "What about it?"

"Well," he murmured, tension creeping into his own, "I think that this is some kind of server farm, and it's growing strains of SIVA."

But why would SIVA need to grow? Was it organic? Everything about this plague took what he knew and flipped it on its head. If it had been designed as a tool to be wielded, how had it become the one now wielding those it merged with?

They left the path, this room turning into another with a massive black and red rhombus taking up the center of the room. Catwalks split along the side of it, allowing passage around the enormous anomaly. Red SIVA-fied cables and wires stretched out of the bottom and into the floor, giving it the appearance of a grotesque bud. As they continued beyond it and into the next hallway, he tried to make some sense of all this.

Due to its nature, he was sure that it had a certain 'programmable' aspect to it; otherwise, it wouldn't have been promoted as a tool like Seraph had stated its original intent had been. You couldn't properly command something without some sense of control over it.

He looked at the Ghost hovering next to him, a line of thought crossing his mind. Seraph was definitely not organic, but she was certainly alive. She'd been born from within the Traveler, a combination of metal and light. The thing that separated her from a machine was that she had a mind of her own, thoughts and ideas that belonged to her.

Inside those glass containers, the SIVA sprouts had been grown from hundreds of different variations and experimentations, potentially for many different purposes. The relationship between a user and tool was simple; a tool had power, but could not use itself, and a user did not have power but could use a tool to harness it.

So what would happen if the tool was given a mind?

He couldn't imagine that SIVA was inherently some weapon of the Darkness; but if Ghosts could be created from metal and light … who was to say that, out of all these hundreds of different variants, one of them had meshed its code with … something else?

Nothing was certain, whatever had happened was the result of a process that took place over thousands of years. But if he was right, and this mutated form of SIVA that the Messenger and his allies were using was more than what it appeared to be … then perhaps things were worse than even he'd foreseen-

The final door of their passage slid open, the sight taking away any thought he had in his mind.

The chamber they'd entered was easily more than a kilometer in width, length, and height. He couldn't even properly see the walls of it due to an ominous fog and red lighting that hit it, obscuring a clear view of the absurdly large room- if one could even call it a room, the word hardly gave an accurate description of the place's enormity.

In front of them, a single stairway held up by thick cables awaited them, leading down into the center of the room where a diamond-shaped facility awaited them, a monumental-sized version of the smaller caps that grew along SIVA tendrils. He knew what this capsule of containment truly was.

They'd reached the sanctum.

* * *

 _ **A/N: We are reaching the end of the first arc … and now we're somewhere around just before the halfway point of the book.**_

 _ **I hate to do this, but I'm going to be taking a slight hiatus to focus on work and a film project of mine; hopefully I can finish the film and free up some more time for this.**_

 _ **Let me know in the reviews what your thoughts are so far, and any predictions you might have; is this how it all ends? Can he save everyone, or even anyone? What about the Trinary Star, and their whereabouts while the Last Hunter is relaying all this to Clara?**_

 _ **That's the cool thing about this book; it's two different worlds in one, and both of them come with conflicts aplenty.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	67. Hopeless

_He was here._

 _She wanted to cry out, to urge him to run far from this hell, but her voice had been stolen by the red._

 _All she could do was watch as he approached the red's vilest lair, unable to forewarn him of the plot that was yet to unfold if he continued. The trap had been set with them as the lure._

 _The Messenger had never intended for there to be a solution, he only wanted to sweeten his victory through the Hunter's failure._

 _There was no happy ending possible, she knew that now; the only conclusion would be one of devastation. There was no way to win, no reality where they would come out on top-_

 _Out of the red appeared an anomaly, a- thing- that did not belong here. It whispered to her, fed her words that warped her mind and clouded her thoughts. She felt that this anomaly was familiar, though she could not place how …_

 _A little blue light._

…

 _No. There was a way. Or rather, there was a reality where every outcome resulted in triumph._

 _Reaching out through the tendrils and bonds that tethered her to the red's many conquests, she found machines of time and reality, altering themselves to enhance their prowess tenfold. But even they did not realize the power they could wield through the combined efforts of thought and the red …_

 _As mere machines themselves, they formed no real innovative goals; all they wanted was to survive, even through the end of the universe itself. They didn't think out of curiosity, only out of necessity._

 _She did not have that limitation._

 _She barely had the framework of an idea, let alone a real chance of accomplishing it. But she had no choice other than to try; the others had all but succumbed to the coaxing of the red. She could feel them with her, connected to her just as every other extension of the red._

 _Why was she left? Was she simply stronger than the others? Or, as she began to suspect, had she been chosen specifically for this? But what WAS this?_

 _Destiny._

 _She had to work quickly if any hope of survival was to remain; the red asserted one mind over them, but she did not conform. She was permitted to retain her sense of individuality, her own reasoning. She did not know why, but she would certainly take every advantage she was offered here._

 _Who was she?_

 _She was an Exo, one who had defied what was expected of her and fallen in love with a human._

 _She was Ash, one of the Legends sworn to defend humanity from all forces of the Darkness._

 _But she was certainly not another goddamn tool for the red to manipulate and control._

 _As it anticipated the Hunter's arrival, she began to spread herself- to multiply and grow just as it had done. She had no chance of expanding herself as much as the red had, but she could simply convert that which it had taken over._

 _She only hoped that he would buy enough time for her to succeed._

* * *

The floor illuminated wherever he stepped, one large chamber of emptiness. His footsteps echoed off the walls, the only sound in the silence beside his beating heart.

In the center was a hole, a cubic shaft that led down into open air. Below, Matt could see a dimly lit area of some kind; it wasn't much to go on, but at least he knew there was a floor he could land on.

Stepping forward, he let himself fall through the air to the ground below. Redirecting his shields once more, he absorbed the impact and landed in a kneeling stance for ultimate stability.

He'd barely had a second to regain his breath and begin to stand upright before he heard a loud, slow, and emphatic clap emit from several yards in front of him. Where it came from was pitch black, but he had a good enough idea to guess who it was.

He was proven right as a figure emerged from the shadows, sporting a crooked grin that spanned two separate sets of facial features. Those glowing red eyes stared at him with with contempt and dark satisfaction at the Hunter's arrival.

"What a creature you are," the Messenger remarked. "After stealing your loved ones, challenging you without any disguise to my intentions, and even after I personally assured you that you'd fail … here you are."

The horrifically meshed Exo laughed. "You're such a slave to your emotions, to your desire to help. I presented you with an enemy, and you came running like the simple-minded lapdog you are."

Stepping forward, he aimed a punch at Matt. It connected hard with the side of his helmet, just as the two of them had known it would.

For as long as the Messenger had control of the situation, he couldn't do anything if it meant jeopardizing the situation.

Raising his head calmly, he faced the servant of the Darkness once more.

"Is it really some ridiculous sense of altruism that drives you?" Another swing forced Matt's head to snap backwards, stunned by the power behind the blows. "Or is it a more selfish need to have some kind of threat for you to conquer? A narcissistic desire to be the center of your own story, a compulsive need to fight because you can't stand the true nature of a peaceful life?"

One final blow knocked him to the floor, head rattling and his vision swimming. Still, he said not a word.

The Messenger sighed. "You're pathetic is what you are. I can't believe-" he tried to say, but fell into a chuckle. "I honestly can't believe you're the same Mathias that Sara spoke of. You were her whole world, you know. The entire reason she even agreed to become an Exo; all so that she could share the rest of her life with you."

Matt tried to remain silent, but he found himself groaning from both the physical and emotional pain being thrust at him. He shut his eyes tightly, wetness beginning to from in their corners.

"The way she spoke of you, one would have pictured you to be some monumental giant, a light to which others could aspire to be." Looking down at the shaking Hunter on the ground, he sneered. "But you're none of that, are you? You're just a weak, pitiful excuse for a man who could never hope to be worthy of her affections."

Bringing his leg back, he directed a kick brutally into Matt's side and sent the Hunter rolling. Feebly, he tried to raise himself off the ground but was forced back into it by the weight of the Messenger's foot on his back.

Leaning down, the Exo whispered, "You didn't deserve her. And you don't deserve this life you've built for yourself."

Instead of continuing to beat him, the Messenger finally walked back towards the shadows as he talked. "She never forgot you for as long as she lived; not when we left the Clovis Bray facility, not when we were harassed by the rest of humanity for our inorganic nature, not when we were resurrected by the Darkness, never. Yet, you've left her behind in your past and even advised me to do as you've done. What was the phrasing you used- 'accept she's dead'?"

Groggily, Matt tried to stand back up as his rival glowered.

"Well, maybe you'll think differently when your new life is the one being torn apart." The Messenger raised his arms, and the lights flickered on to illuminate their surroundings. Clutching his abdomen, Matt looked on in horror.

He'd thought that the two of them were alone; not because he hadn't expected others, but because he hadn't believed it possible for so many beings to be so silent in the darkness.

He stood on the median of three levels of platforms; in front of him was the Messenger on the bottom level, straight in the center of the gargantuan chamber. The two other platforms to his left and right shared the same level, stretching forward and to the sides of the room. And covering almost every foot of them were SIVA-infected minions. Counting them was useless, they were innumerable.

Fallen. Various Hive. A few lumbering Cabal soldiers. Waves of Vex.

All of them swarming with clouds of red nanites, infecting every pore and nerve of their bodies.

Were they even themselves anymore? Had every example here willingly converted? Or had they been forced, as was the way that the Darkness tended to move things along?

"Don't worry," crooned the Messenger, "they're not here for you. No, their job will be made quite apparent once you've been properly dealt with. Instead, I have a few friendly faces for you to meet."

As he finished speaking, digitized flashes of red light began to appear around him, figures materializing within them. As the lights disappeared, he looked to examine them with renewed horror.

It was _them_.

The SIVA-fied Guardians said not a word, instead remaining completely silent and stationary. The Messenger wanted to savor this moment, to relish in Matt's most colossal failure and feeling of hopelessness.

To his right, he recognized Aria's armor, covered in those cubic-buds that were so signature of SIVA. Red tendrils and cable covered every inch of her form under the large pieces of metal that had otherwise been corrupted by it. Little worm-like tentacles waved around her head, stretching into the air like demented plant-life in bloom.

Looking around me, he saw more of the same. Behind him, Eager and Dawn. To his left, Scorch. And in front of him-

"Ash," he whimpered.

She did not respond, silent just as all the others. Her helmet had cracked apart, and through a split in the visor he could see one of her eyes staring out at him from within. It was wide and a sickening red, just like the Messenger's. More tendrils stretched around it, spanning across her features. He could only imagine the horrific sight that awaited within, if it were openly exposed.

"Where are their Ghosts?" Seraph asked fearfully to him from within. "I- I don't-"

He had no words of comfort for her, knowing that the worst had happened.

The Messenger had been right. There was no hope here. They were all gone. Not quite dead, just doomed to a life of corruption at the hands of a thinking plague, destined for nothing other than to be its puppets.

He wanted to sink to the ground, to give in and let whatever happened happen. He had no resolve, no strength to fight anymore.

All was lost.

—X—

 _She watched the will to fight leave his body, replaced with despair and a wish for to all to end._

 _She had no voice, and yet she screamed against the red. She screamed with every ounce of effort she could muster, what little of it she had left from what had been taken from her._

 _Reaching out to feel the new additions of her mind that she'd annexed and wrested from the red's control, she felt the presence over her slowly grow less suffocating._

 _She worked fast, once again setting to work in taking back control of what was hers, as well as going even farther and spreading herself throughout the connections that tied them all together, creating adjuncts that weren't even hers initially and manipulating them._

 _He couldn't win this fight, it wasn't possible. But she prayed to whatever entity was listening for him to hold out just a while longer and provide her with enough time to turn red to blue._

 _If he couldn't win, then she would._

—X—

He stood there, staring at the twisted husk of his wife that held his gaze with one of its own. That red eye stared back at him, sinister and flickering-

Flickering?

He caught his breath and watched it more carefully. As he looked on in morbid curiosity, he was startled to witness it alternate between being dim and illuminated until finally it did something he had no reaction for.

For the briefest of moments, it became blue again.

It only lasted for a second before reverting back to the crimson glare of the SIVA that inhabited her form, but he was sure of what he'd seen. There was a hint of her still in there- was it in all of them?

"Matt?" came Seraph's voice, looking to him for both comfort and confirmation of what they'd just observed. He drew in a deep breath, tightening his fist as he did so.

The Messenger watched him carefully, his gloating expression replaced with one of surprise. After all that had just transpired, he was still going to fight?

Matt thought back to what was at stake here. His family, the City, all of humanity should the Messenger unleash SIVA upon them like he'd done to the armies of the Darkness. Even if he was doomed to fail, giving up would get him nowhere. There was no other option.

In one quick motion, he drew the Hawkmoon and fired.


	68. The Perfected

_It should come as no surprise to any that the claim most denied and hidden by the Trinary Star has been proven valid._

 _The Last Hunter is real._

 _No longer can the Star simply call him a myth, or a mere story for others to use for fantasizing of better days; he is a truth, a living, breathing, and undeniably real individual._

 _For centuries, the Star has grown in both number and power. In terms of influence, they are second only to the flimsy example of what little government we have left in the City. And beyond its walls, only the neutral nature of the Keepers holds them at bay from spreading to the settlements._

 _The question you must ask yourself is how, if they have such a prominent history that dates back centuries and resources at their disposal that the rest of humanity only dreams of, could they have not known of the Last Hunter's existence?_

 _The answer is obvious, of course they knew he existed. Their constant outcries and attempts to deny that such a person existed are almost evidence in and of itself; the lady doth protest too much, methinks. But if they were aware of his being, then surely they would have alerted the masses to the fact? Why did they not?_

 _They're afraid._

 _Because, for the first time recorded in the centuries since the Star's conception, they're the ones who feel fear's cold bite rather than the ones feeding it into others' hearts. They were afraid of the ramifications of this truth, and what it would mean both for us and their order._

 _If the Hunter is real, were the Guardians real? They must have been. And if they were, then how did they disappear? Or, as theorized, did their abilities trickle down the generations until we were left with the Keepers, those who show an unusual versatility with the light?_

 _The Keepers may remain neutral in their alignment between the light and the dark, but the evidence seems to point to the idea that their predecessors were not. Imagine what remarkable feats that these 'Guardians' could have accomplished, what powers they may have wielded?_

 _It seems implausible that these indomitable warriors of the light could have just disappeared so efficiently for future generations to doubt their very existence. No traces of them, no historic records, nothing._

 _The only possible way that this could have happened is with the manipulation of an outside force, one that did not want the truth about the existence of Guardians to be revealed._

 _What other secrets is the Trinary Star hiding, and how long will it take for them to come to light?_

 _ **\- Anti-Propaganda put forth by the Seven Seraphs**_

* * *

The way Woods described the SIVA-fied Guardians, Clara pictured lumbering beasts made of cybernetic vein and tissue. It was a sickening image to have in her mind, and she was thankful that she was physically incapable of retching.

He glanced at her with a slight nod when he saw the look on her face, as though he was agreeing with how disgusting she'd made them out to appear in her mind. "If you think that's bad, then just try to imagine yourself in his position; not only did he know them personally, but they were the closest thing he had to a family."

She imagined Mathias standing there, staring into the horrifically corrupted face of the husk of his wife as the one who'd done it to her was standing nearby and gloating. Unconsciously, her hands balled up into fists at the tragedy and sheer horridness of the circumstance.

"I can't imagine anything worse," she whispered, curling her arms and legs in like a child seeking comfort.

With a disheartened sigh, the Hunter shook his head. "Neither could he. But the truth is that sometimes, our imagination is simply too weak to conjure up the same atrocities reality is capable of. This was one such time."

—X—

The bullet was deflected harmlessly by the Messenger who easily brought a hand up and summoned a small shard of void energy to take the impact. Truthfully, Matt hadn't expected the round to hit its target; he just was feeling a bit spiteful towards the Exo.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Exo guffawed and seemed to take it in stride. "Not the first time you've tried that, yet you still hope one day it'll get me. Ah well, I'll just let you get into it. This is my favorite part."

Waving his arm, the Messenger triggered something in the SIVA-fied Guardians and they finally sprung forward to attack.

He sensed the attack from behind more than he really heard it, and he rolled accordingly to avoid the combined efforts of Eager and Dawn lunging at him in an attempt to subdue him. His roll left him open for a counter from Aria, however, and the corrupted Warlock managed to grab one of his legs. Swinging him back like a weight at the end of a string, she threw him into a pillar with enough force that part of it cracked and crumbled where his back struck it.

Sliding to the ground silently in response to the shocking pain he felt, he almost had to fight with his own body to move out of the way just before a large, SIVA-enhanced fist crushed his skull in. Barely managing to dodge Ash's advance, he was once again left without a proper counter to the next opponent who rushed him.

Scorch seemed to have much greater agility than the others, darting around and stopping in place unnaturally fast, almost as though her momentum completely disappeared at will. In such an instance, she effectively materialized like a ghost behind him, and kicked him back towards the center of a ring-like formation that they'd created between them.

Barely managing to retain his grasp on his weapon, he slid forward on his stomach and was once more rendered incapable of a proper response to the copious waves of fire that seemed to be engulfing his muscles wherever he was struck.

"Matt," came Seraph's voice again, "I know what you're thinking- but you won't survive unless you fight back. Maybe not even then. But there's far more at stake than any of our lives right now."

He groaned both in pain and at what he knew she was telling him; he wanted to save his family here, but it might be too late for them. The City still had a chance.

He'd have to let go of his inhibitions to fighting them, and stop holding back.

As Aria charged forward, he yelled and fired the Hawkmoon into her abdomen. He had no idea what would happen or how strong these things were, so he simply blasted until the chamber was emptied.

It appeared that the entity before him, as it was clearly no longer truly Aria, hadn't been expecting such a reaction based on his previous behavior and both of them were startled to see a sizable fist-sized hole having been blown through her stomach.

He almost dropped the gun in sheer horror at the realization of what he'd just had to do, but disturbingly the husk of Aria didn't seem to falter. Instead, new red tendrils and buds began to enter the wound and insert themselves into both flesh and armor, multiplying the threads until the gap had been filled. Then it, entered a combat-stance once more.

"They've been perfected," called the Messenger with that sickeningly conceited tone. "No longer are Guardians simply undying- they're _invulnerable_."

With a roar that screamed of torture and rage intertwined, the husk of Aria leapt at him.

—X—

 _How many times had this scene played itself out before her? She couldn't remember, everything was hazy and confusing with the claustrophobic presence of the red enveloping every orifice, sense, and thought of her._

 _No matter. She would make sure that this would be the last time._

 _It was still preoccupied in its game, the game that it played with the Hunter endlessly. A thousand times she'd watched him fail, and she'd be damned if she was going to watch a thousand more._

 _She did not remember, but still she knew- why? Perhaps as a result of the very nature of its symbiosis with her, she was part of it just as much as it was a part of her now._

 _What would come next depended on how quickly she worked her way through the connections; she'd never attempted this before, but she doubted she'd get a second shot if it detected her. Painstakingly, she felt herself grow through its extremities, the minions who had become mere phalanges of the red._

 _Finally, she made progress. She felt her own mind inhabit the body of another, just as the red did. Rather than staying, she continued along the path that would lead her to her target._

—X—

The Messenger was right; the 'perfected' Guardian's didn't go down as easily as he both hoped and feared. He didn't want to- end- the only family he had, he still wanted to hold out hope that they could be saved. Ash's blue eye stood at the forefront of his evidence for that theory … but if they were truly gone then he would rather be able to dispatch them than having let them endure this awful existence.

Unfortunately, they were strong, fast, and damn near invincible. He could damage them, but they just regenerated anything he destroyed.

Driving his blade through Scorch's shoulder, he felt a shameful satisfaction when he watched it separate and fall to the floor, followed by a sinking feeling as the SIVA consuming her immediately sprung into action and conjured up a wicked-looking prosthetic composed of metal and strands of red. There was no longer a hand, but a sharp blade much like the legs that the SIVA-infected Dregs had, and the defiled Hunter wasted no time in trying to impale him with it.

Twisting his body, he narrowly managed to avoid a fatal mark and instead cried out as the knife-like arm punctured his own, spearing through the underside and out the top of his left forearm like a harpoon. Wrenching it away, blood sprayed from the wound and he looked at it to see that his armor had done practically nothing in the way of protection. Red drops splattered against the ground wherever he walked, and his arm shook from a combination of adrenaline and nerve damage.

There was no respite from the fight however, no opportunity to recover before the husks were on the offensive again. Dawn looped a tendril around his midsection and raised him up into the air only to slam him back down into the ground with renewed force. They paused, almost daring him to continue to resist their power.

Weakly, he tried to raise his right hand with the Hawkmoon still in his grasp. Before he could even think about where to aim it, a claw-like foot of Eager's kicked it away and stomped hard on his appendage. He cried out in agony as the bones were pulverized, crunched to mush by the absurd strength of the perfected.

"Enough!"

The voice of the Messenger was not harsh, but rather more like someone simply telling a dog to drop a toy. "I'd rather be able to enjoy what comes next rather than trying to explain it to a bag of flesh like I've had to in past iterations."

His thoughts clouded, Matt tried to think past the pain and decipher what meaning he could from the Messenger's dialogue; iterations? And he spoke as though this were a story that he knew the ending to, like he'd read it many times before …

Stepping next to the Hunter, the Messenger looked down at the broken Guardian and leaned in close. "You're lucky that I'd rather you be in better condition than they usually leave you; I prefer you to be coherent as you watch everything come to an end."

Reaching down, the grabbed the tattered back of his cloak and brutally pulled the Hunter upwards until he was resting on his knees, the closest he could come to standing as he was capable.

The Exo gave a synthetic sigh of satisfaction at the sight before him, soaking it all in. Kneeling down to Matt's level, he rested a hand on the Hunter's shoulder in a show of mock sympathy. "I know how it feels, you know. To have everything taken from you in a single instant, to be at the precipice of ultimate victory and have it stolen away."

Clapping his hand on Matt's back, the Messenger stood up once more. "It was you who did that to me. First, you turned the Warrior- you turned _Sara_ into that poor excuse for a replacement-"

"I didn't do that," he grunted in spite of his predicament, "Sara chose that herself when she destroyed the crystal you gave her-"

He was immediately backhanded by the Messenger and fell backwards to the floor again. Above him, both Rook's and Reynard's eyes glowered at him. "I thought I made it clear that you're not worthy to speak her name."

Leaning down, he forcefully grabbed Matt and brought him up to his knees once more. "First, you turned her against me. Then, you stood in the way of the culmination of centuries of planning, managing against all odds to both save the Traveler and kill me. I'd have thought that at least I killed you too, but you _came back_ while I was left in the rubble to rot until the Darkness saw more potential with SIVA."

He circled the Hunter like a shark, gloating while the perfected Guardians stood still and unmoving, simply witnessing the spectacle as though they'd done so a hundred times.

"Every time it throws a threat your way, you're not far behind with the others to defeat it. It's taken time, but the ultimate realization has finally come that _you_ are the largest impediment in its way. All of you. So the goal has been rather simple this time around." He stopped in front of Matt and stooped down to place his frankenstein-like face in front of his.

"It wants to make you suffer. To watch you fail. To die trying to stop it, over and over again just as you have done so to us."

The perfected Guardians began to glow, and suddenly disappeared into the same red flashes that had made them materialize to begin with. The Messenger didn't sound like a maniac, he didn't sound like he was some unhinged lunatic; instead, he spoke with confidence that only came when one was completely sure of victory. The Exo wasn't daring him to succeed, or challenging him to rise up again; he was crowing about the fact that he knew the Hunter could do nothing but look on helplessly.

A red flash began to envelop the two of them, and the Messenger laughed as the sanctum disappeared around them to be replaced with clouds and dark skies.

"Allow me to show you your destiny."

* * *

 _ **A/N: for the love of god people, throw me a bone here**_

 ** _or at least a bit of feedback every once in a while, sheesh_**

 _ **Anyway, I don't think any of you are prepared for what's gonna come next. Remember what I said on my profile page, about breaking each and every one of your hearts with this book?**_

 _ **There are three separate points in the story where I'm going to do this, and the next few chapters are going to make up the first one.**_

 ** _Get your tissues ready, there's gonna be some waterworks._**

 ** _Until the next time,_**

 ** _\- Matteoarts_**


	69. Chronosynthesis

_I read her thoughts, her memories. I don't consider it an intrusion, regarding the very nature of our relationship after all._

 _That trek back to the City, all the while that Ghost- Whip, his name was- constantly put forth suggestions for her new identity._

 _Finally, he suggests Phoenix. She laughs it off, regarding it as a ridiculous name, though it does lead her to find the one she would use henceforth._

 _Ash._

 _I disagree with her assertion of its ludicrousness. A phoenix is a beautiful creature, a spectacle for others to find themselves amazed by. When it dies, it turns to ash and waits to be reborn out of the dust where it will then live its life out once more._

 _It seems that, much like the bird, everything has become a cycle. What does it mean? Does it mean anything at all?_

 _The Hunter fell as a man, only to rise as a Guardian._

 _The Messenger wasted away in abandonment, and found himself alive in servitude._

 _And even now, after countless repetitions and iterations of the light's extinction, salvation draws near at last._

 _It would appear that every thought, every process, every conceivable reality is in truth nothing more than a cycle, an unending sequence where the results are only as unique as the individuals they encompass._

 _Even me._

 _A phoenix may rise from its ashes, but the ash holds no beauty. It is nothing but that which unjustly ends the phoenix's reign, and brings it back into the world. It is just one unfortunate, but necessary step in its life cycle. Without it, the phoenix could not be immortal as it is._

 _I would gladly take the title that she rejected, recognizing its significance. The identity she chose is an apt one; she is nothing more than the foundation for which the phoenix will rise above once more._

 _I am the paragon, the phoenix. She is the ash._

 _And the cycle is about to begin anew._

* * *

As the red light died down and faded away, Matt was finally able to properly apply some context to their new surroundings.

Now, he knelt upon a platform of Vex stone, cubic and geometrical as though it had been designed to physically mirror an equation. The aforementioned platform floated high in the clouds, granting one a spectacular view of the horizon far off in the distance.

"Venus has always been one of the greatest mysteries to humanity," the Messenger muttered quietly. "Scientists and researchers struggled for centuries to comprehend the nature of the Vex ruins here, some of them predating mankind's origin. Yet, how had they never noticed such monuments and structures if they had truly been here all along? It was almost as if they-"

The Exo placed a fist in front of his face and opened it to mimic an explosion, "- _popped_ into existence."

He groaned in response, still clutching his mangled hand with his other arm, shaking from the wound it had sustained earlier. It was tough to think through the pain, but he made the effort anyway; what was the Messenger getting at? He didn't think it'd be a long wait to get an answer.

"The fact of the matter is that, as startling as it is to think about, that's _exactly_ what they did. In a sense, anyway." He gestured around at their location, indicating the many Vex structures protruding into the atmosphere. "Look around you; we stand at the top of the Citadel, only one of many such locations around Venus. Do you know how long it takes to convert a planet into machinery?"

Matt tried to recall any information about the Vex's method of conquest. "They're … they're supposed to be able to transform a planet in days-"

"That's what it seems like, right?" agreed the Messenger animatedly. It was odd to hear the servant of Darkness speak in such an excited manner. "But the truth is that it's impossible to do so much in such little time. Fortunately, time is an infinite resource- if you're a Vex, that is."

The Messenger waved a hand around, and clouds of black and red began to appear. Materializing from god-knows-where, hordes of normal and SIVA-fied Vex stood at the ready. The Perfected Guardians stood nearby as well, watching the Messenger perform his final boast.

Grabbing the back of the Hunter's cowl, the Messenger dragged him forward as the minions looked on. "The problem with the Vex is that they're not really greedy, and they're not exactly evil either. At the end of the day, they're just trying to survive the end of the universe at all costs. The issue with that is that they haven't quite figured it out yet, and so they do what they always do- head back to the beginning and try again. It's the same way they're able to convert these planets; spend a few million, maybe a few billion years performing the process, and then just transport it all back through time to a few days after they started. Ingenious, really."

Finally reaching wherever he wanted to be, the Exo threw him down to the ground and stepped away as Matt tried to raise himself off the ground without working arms. Looking up, he saw a sight that he knew all too well.

"Back to the matter at hand, however; like I said, they don't really think beyond anything other than that; they're not ambitious, they're just survivors. They don't think about all the possibilities they have at at their fingertips with such power. Me, on the other hand …" He gave a loud cackle. "Well, I'm a bit more _creative_ than they are."

In front of them were several time-portals, machinations of the Vex's that truly showcased just how formidable an enemy they could truly become if they desired. However, these portals weren't the standard circular gates that he was accustomed to seeing; instead, it seemed as though their design had been drastically altered, no longer retaining the top section of their ring and instead stretching two intricate prongs into the air where they waited patiently for … something.

And then there was obvious enhancement of SIVA that had been applied to them.

"What is … what is it doing?" he grunted, the fear of such a combination very prevalent in his mind.

"There's not much else it _can_ do, those portals are practically the pinnacle of technological marvels; but there were a few minor tweaks that I've been able to add," the Exo explained. "See, now the portals aren't just connected to the Vex, but to every single individual who's been … _perfected_. Including myself and the Guardians you call your family."

At the mention of them, Matt glanced at them again as they stood idly by, waiting for the Messenger's next command. Were they aware of what they were doing? Were they already dead? Or were they just trapped inside the confines of their own mind, kept barely alive without any control?

"It's easier to show you the next bit rather than trying to explain it," the Messenger said, and gestured for him to watch them in action.

Cohesively, each set of prongs on the portals began to glow and charge up with temporal energy. Arcs of lightning and cloudy vapor began to materialize in the air above them, swirling together slowly but quickly gaining speed until a spherical orb of light began to form. The power from each gate was taken and channeled into the massive singularity, spinning insanely fast and now crackling with all of the energy it had acquired until it pulsed with one final burst and stabilized in the air.

Matt closed his eyes to shield them from the pulse, opening them cautiously to see what exactly had happened. Now, the large orb hung above them and the gates in the air, receiving a constant feed of energy from the portals and the SIVA-enhanced prongs attached to them. The many surrounding Vex stared at it, waiting for the Messenger to carry out the next part of his plan.

"Go ahead," he called to the Hunter, "gaze into it and see the fate that awaits you!"

With little other choice, he obeyed.

No longer was the orb made purely of light, or maybe it was; he couldn't describe exactly what he was seeing, just that its surface was more wispy than its core and it began to take shape into something that startled him considerably so.

"That's the City," breathed Seraph.

She was right; the orb acted almost like a window through space, allowing them to see the City from above, its inhabitants initially unaware of their new observers; but then civilians began to point out the anomaly in the sky above them, stopping to stare at the unknown entity.

"It was, as of a few minutes ago," the Messenger drawled, "or as it is at this moment, it's up to you how to interpret it really. So many timelines, so many realities … when you're a Vex, or at least someone with their technology in your hands, then all of time and space happen at once, converging on a single point with which you can choose whenever and wherever. Everything that's ever happened or will happen is happening _now."_

He indicated the singularity again. "I like to do this a few minutes in the past; close enough for you to feel the weight of your loss, but also just enough to be too late for you to help."

As they continued to watch, something else began to take place over the city; the army of SIVA-fied Fallen, Vex, Hive, and Cabal descended upon the City through their connection to the singularity. They appeared in the streets, in the sky, and-

"The Tower!" Seraph cried, as Matt was unable to work up enough of a voice to do so.

The view shifted to the courtyard, once again the target of an attack; but this time, there was no firefight or resistance. It was a straightforward massacre as Guardians were caught unaware and slaughtered by the enhanced enemy. SIVA particles snaked throughout the area, converting any host it could find, living or dead. These new perfected Guardians rose up, and helped to destroy the ones that had not yet fallen.

He cried out as the perspective shifted yet again, showing the Hall of Guardians as it was raided by the perfected. There was no warning, and there was no mercy.

Ikora, Cayde, Zavala, Shaxx … all dead.

He turned away, unwilling to watch the next phase as they were converted into mindless tools of SIVA. He was unable to block out the sound however, their gargled chokes becoming ever more guttural as the red plague took hold.

"Oh, you thought that was bad?" remarked the Messenger at Matt's torment, "Just look at this."

Against his better judgement, he looked back at the orb to see the rest of the City again, another aerial view. But unlike before … it was silent. There were still screams that rang out every so often, quickly cut off- but for the most part, not a sound escaped it.

On the ground stood hundreds, thousands of converted humans alongside the armies that had brought it in the first place. Nodes of SIVA erupted in the ground, growing roots and stretching them throughout the rest of the City to spread as efficiently as possible.

It was over. In just a few short minutes, the Darkness had won.

"Technically, that all happened a few minutes ago," said the Messenger with a twisted smile. "It was too late before you even knew it was too late."

He'd failed. There was no more humanity to save; only SIVA remained.

He was all that was left.

—X—

 _She watched through the eyes of the Vex as everything came to an end. He was broken, still unaware of the final card the Messenger had to play._

 _Exercising control over the parts of her that had spread throughout SIVA's connection, she directed all of her pieces into the gates that generated the singularity. She'd have to work quickly, before the cycle continued and she was sent back to the beginning to relive this hell._

 _It was almost in her grasp now; just a little bit farther and she'd touch the light-_

 _Her mental fingertips scraping it, she felt herself get absorbed into its energy and grow. She'd done it! No longer did she feel confined by the pressure of SIVA all around her, in fact she'd never felt so free before-_

 _Wait. She wasn't alone._

 _Two balls of light hovered in front of her in the void. One red …_

… _and one blue._

 _She recognized it as the same orb that she'd seen in her dreams, up on that mountain with the one who had called himself the Last Hunter. The same orb that had helped her find a way to defeat the SIVA that encased her mind. And the same orb that had revealed it held untold plans for her._

 _As she watched, the blue began to tear apart the red, ripping it to shreds and letting the ribbons fade into nothingness until only the blue was left, now with total control of the singularity instead._

 _Ash found that she was unable to do anything that she'd thought she would, that the orb had shown her she'd be able to. She was simply here, helpless as the light moved towards her and into her chest._

 _As it made contact, her thoughts blossomed into understanding._

 _Images flashed in her eyes as her mind touched infinity. Memories that weren't hers, and yet were. Memories that_ _ **were**_ _hers but were now being taken back. Untold centuries spent searching for purpose finally brought to an end as her efforts came to fruition._

 _All of time and space in the palm of her hand, resurrecting her consciousness from beyond the depths of realms unknown. No longer was she a memory, but an entity_.

…

 _Goodbye, Ash._

 _I have no use for you anymore; you played your part perfectly._

 _Now, it's time to play mine._

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **; )**_


	70. Ad Infinitum

" _What do you mean by that?"_

" _What?"_

" _That 'atrocities' thing."_

" _Oh. Well, it's pretty simple to explain- when things are bad, people often think that things can't ever get any worse. But that's only because they lack imagination."_

" _How does a lack of imagination factor into this?"_

" _People like to apply situations to their own rules and understanding, try to make sense of it. They say that things can't get worse because, just maybe, they'll start to believe it if they say it to themselves enough times. But the sad truth is that reality is a very creative thing."_

"… _Isn't that what most people say is the least imaginative thing? Keeping it realistic?"_

" _That's because other people are stupid. If they used their brains, they'd realized that nothing would exist if it weren't for reality- and we've got all sorts of things that people never would have dreamed possible. The Traveler, the Darkness, all those races of aliens who sought to kill us so long ago … all of them existed in reality, did they not?"_

" _Yeah, I guess they did."_

" _Now you're getting it. Keeping it 'realistic' doesn't mean to limit your expectations; it means to broaden them to a point where you can prepare for the worst nightmare that reality's imagination has to throw at you."_

* * *

His eyes told him plainly what had happened, but his mind refused to truly process it. He couldn't accept the Messenger's truth that everyone was dead, the moment he did was the moment hope was finally extinguished-

"Oh, I never get tired of seeing that face," sighed the Messenger contentedly. "Defeat isn't something you're familiar with- it's always great to see the magnitude of your failure catch up with you."

He heard the Exo talk like a dull echo, one that he wasn't paying much attention to. He was reeling, completely overwhelmed and unsure of what to do next. There was no goal to progress to, no people to save, no … _purpose_.

With a start, he realized that perhaps the Messenger had been right- maybe he had turned his purpose in life into protecting others, into taking on the role of a savior. Why? Did he just feel guilt over _her,_ the one he'd failed to save in his past life? Or, as the Messenger suggested, was it more selfish in nature, born of a desire to achieve importance when it wasn't necessary?

Either way, he had no reason to live anymore. He'd failed to save his family in his previous life; Sara, Lucas, the twins, all lost with the sands of time and the Traveler's influence. And now, he'd watched as the only family he'd known in _this_ life had been turned into perverted machinations of SIVA and the Messenger.

"Finish it then," he whispered wearily, resting on his knees as the Messenger stood next to him, turning to stare at him as he spoke in the voice of a broken man. The servant of Darkness chuckled mockingly.

"I thought you never give up? That you always have something to fight for, that hope is always just on the edge of the horizon-"

"I found hope in people," he muttered, "in the futures they strove to create for themselves. I took it upon myself to protect those dreams- to be a Guardian to them."

He waved his crushed hand towards the singularity. "But there are no more people. There's nothing to fight for, nothing worth giving my life to protect. You've seen to that- all that's left is to end what you began with me."

The Messenger's red eyes, one of his old blue ones and one of Rook's previous pink ones, watched him carefully, gleefully. He seemed content to simply enjoy his victory and savor it rather than mercifully ending it. "You'd like to think it's that easy, wouldn't you? That eternal peace is just a brief flash of pain away? Not so, Mathias."

Hearing his name come from the Messenger's mouth was like swallowing poison. Still, his mind was conditioned to find the root of a problem and this new development seemed worthy of its attention.

"Why?"

"I told you," he crowed, "the Darkness and I want to watch you fail over and over again, much like you've done to us at every turn. And with both SIVA and the Vex at my disposal, we can do exactly that."

As the Messenger spoke, Matt's mind continued to work out everything the Exo had said throughout the encounter …

 _Not the first time you've tried that, yet you still hope one day it'll get me. Ah well, I'll just let you get into it. This is my favorite part …_

 _I'd rather be able to enjoy what comes next rather than trying to explain it to a bag of flesh like I've had to in past iterations …_

 _You're lucky that I'd rather you be in better condition than they usually leave you; I prefer you to be coherent as you watch everything come to an end …_

 _Allow me to show you your destiny._

He looked at the Messenger in horrified realization as a knot formed in his chest. "What did you _do?"_

"Finally figured it out, huh?" he cackled, his maniacal grin once again present on his warped metallic features. "You've been losing for a _long_ time."

He began to circle Matt like a shark as the truth was revealed. "You've never had any chance for victory. From the moment you arrived, your fate is sealed. You're forced to watch as everything is stolen from you; your family, your leaders, your people, and your purpose. And then, once you beg for death at my hand … we begin anew, the cycle repeating as though it had never happened at all."

He stopped in front of the Hunter, directing his attention to the singularity. "Vex technology has never been so precise- sure, they've always had control over timelines, but not with such a web of intricacies! I've made the timelines comprehendible to those not of their nature, connected it to each and every servant perfected by SIVA! My army is eternal, stretching their influence into both the past and future!"

He placed one hand on Matt's shoulder, displaying an obviously mendacious act of camaraderie. "It's all worth it, just to watch you suffer."

Matt looked at him, hate seeping into his voice. "Go to hell."

The Messenger laughed and rose back up onto his feet. "I thought we just established that you're already here! Think about it- a perpetual loop of defeat as you watch everyone you've ever known get slaughtered for all eternity? Give me some credit, I can come up with one hell of a … well, hell."

In that moment, Matt didn't see the Messenger. He didn't see some vaguely mysterious Exo with a dark past and pretentious title- he saw Reynard. The mannerisms of the person he'd been before were still there, a sense of jovial nonchalance in the face of such a serious situation that Matt had seen in those logs Reynard made with Sara and Amelia.

What did it mean? Did it mean that the Messenger was still capable of redemption, or was it just a title for Reynard's conscious decision to obey the whims of the Darkness?

"How many cycles?"

The Messenger shrugged. "I've lost count. You and I have gone through this so many times- ironically, for as much control as I now have over time, I have an awfully difficult task in making sense of it. As near as I can tell, who knows? Maybe we've done this for years, maybe decades, even centuries. Does it matter? When time is infinite, then this has happened, is happening, and will happen for all eternity. Why worry about it?"

"Has it brought you solace?"

The Exo sighed. "If you're trying to find redemption in me, I'm afraid that we've had this many times before. As harsh as it is for you to hear this, I take far too much enjoyment in tormenting you."

"I didn't hear a 'yes'."

The Messenger- no, Reynard's eyes narrowed, and glowered at him. "What peace will I ever have? Even since I was human, I've never known rest. I died as a man killed by the light, and was brought back as an Exo. I died as an Exo abandoned and shunned by humanity, and was brought back by the Darkness to be a servant. I died by your hand, killed as a servant who failed to carry out centuries of the Darkness' planning. And yet, here I am once more to complete another's schemes."

For the first time since he'd met the Exo, he witnessed a brief moment- or at least a shred- of humanity from him. Sighing, Reynard sat down and stared at the singularity.

"It seems that I'm always brought back from oblivion to fulfill the will of another. For the entirety of my existence, I've lived as a servant. There's nothing to redeem within me because nothing I do is ever of my own mind. Even my body is merged with the parts of another, no longer truly belonging to me. The closest thing I've ever come to calling something 'mine' is this cycle of torture I've created for you, and-"

Silence descended upon them as Reynard stopped himself, seemingly unwilling to continue. Matt knew what he'd been about to say.

"And … Sara."

The Exo's fists clenched tight, and Matt expected another beating for speaking her name- but instead, Reynard just nodded. "And Sara."

"You loved her."

"Yes."

"Did you ever tell her?"

"How could I?" he rebuked the Hunter, scorn prevalent in his tone. "I cared for her, watched over her, did everything I could to keep her happy- but her heart always belonged to you. You were the entire reason she even became an Exo, all so that she could come back from the dead and live out the rest of the life she'd lost with you. Who was I to stand in the way of that?"

He could hear the pain in the Warlock's voice, something he'd never have heard the Messenger display- but this was no longer a duel between a Guardian and the Messenger. This was a talk between Mathias and Reynard.

"Then I died …" Matt said aloud, working through the pieces of the puzzle.

"I'd never seen anyone so distraught. She had a complete breakdown, destroyed lab equipment, and shut herself away for days. Amelia and I did our best- but she was never the same after that." He forced an artificial snort. "Ironically, the fact that you were out of the picture was worse than if you were alive. Any chance I had to reveal my feelings for her died with you."

"Out of respect?"

"Out of respect."

That put the situation in a significantly different perspective. "I …"

"There's no need to say anything, you've likely already said it."

"We've had this conversation before?"

"At least once or twice, a long time ago. We don't often get to this part, usually I'd have restarted the cycle by now."

"… So why haven't you?"

"I don't know."

His admission led Matt to believe that perhaps Reynard _did_ know- he just didn't want to come to terms with it. He looked at the singularity, the view of the City in ruins, hordes of SIVA running amok while they sat here, high in the clouds and staring at Venus' horizon.

If there was any hope for a future … this was it.

"If the cycles have lasted as long as you say they have, then I'm sure I've probably said just about everything I can before, right?"

"Just about."

"Then ask me about something I haven't said."

The Exo looked at him. "What?"

"I'm predictable- I can't remember what I've said in past cycles, but you can. I can only say something new if you prompt me to do so. So- what can I say that you don't know? Tell me."

Reynard realized what he was saying, and stared at the Hunter for a few moments as he mulled it over.

"… Why you and not me?"

"What do you mean? You talking about Sara?"

He shook his head. "No, everything. Yes, Sara is a part of that- I did everything I could imagine to make her happy, yet she'd never choose me over you. But that's not all; why were you resurrected by the light while I was left to the clutches of the Darkness? Why did you succeed in the battle for the Traveler while I failed? Why did fate deem it fit to bring you back a second time from death after we killed each other, but left me in the rubble for years until I could be cobbled back together?"

He looked down frustratedly. "It was incredible chance that the Darkness revived the three of us to do its bidding. But the possibility that _you,_ of all the dead to choose from, would be selected by the light to rise again? Astronomical. Every time the two of us are pitted against one another, you come out ahead. I don't know whether you're special or just have fate's blessing- but those are the facts. And I fail to understand why."

"You feel inferior?"

"Wouldn't you?"

Matt thought about that, how he'd feel if he was consistently outmatched in everything he ever strode towards in life. "Fair point. I … I don't know. Maybe the light chose me, maybe it was just dumb luck that my Ghost happened across me. But I don't have an answer for you."

The Warlock nodded, accepting that. "Perhaps neither of us ever will."

They sat there for another minute or so until Reynard came up with another question.

"Who am I?"

"Again, I don't know exactly what you mean."

"I told you already, I have nothing to call mine. Even my name, 'the Messenger'- it's just a title to describe one who relays the orders of another. I'm a servant of the Darkness, and a murderer. But … those are _what_ I am. Are they _who_ I am?"

"Before I answer that, why are you asking me this?"

Reynard blinked, staring at him as though the answer were obvious. "Anyone who cared about the person I was before is dead, and I'm not enough of a fool to believe the Darkness uses me because it's fond of me- I'm a tool I serve a function and nothing more. A means to an end. So I want to know who I am to _you;_ my greatest rival, and the only person alive who possibly understands me."

It was surreal to be having this conversation at all, but Matt was going to answer seriously for what it was worth. "When we first met one another, you were an enemy to be defeated. But you became the very face of evil in my mind, someone so ruthless that they'd commit unspeakable atrocities to accomplish their goals. You weren't just in my nightmares; you _were_ my nightmares."

He gestured at their surroundings with his good hand. "And a few minutes ago, you were the one who stole everything and everyone I ever loved from me, and forced me to watch as they were gutted like animals."

The Exo turned away, likely having been expecting that. But he wasn't done.

"Right now, though … you're just Reynard."

His gaze snapped back to the immobile Guardian. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Those words you used to describe yourself … you've murdered good people, and spent centuries in the servitude of the Darkness. But we are what we choose to be." He pointed at himself. "A Guardian is not who I am- I'm Mathias. What you are is the kind of person you choose to be- and I chose to be a protector, someone who would give their life to ensure that others wouldn't have to."

He jabbed a finger at Reynard. "Your past does not define you- what you choose to be _now_ does. Whether it was because you wanted to or because you followed the others, you _chose_ to pledge yourself to the Darkness. But if you aren't happy with what you are right now … then you can always make a choice to change that."

The red eyes staring back at him narrowed. "And what exactly are you suggesting?"

Matt sighed resignedly. "Reynard- I can't beat you. Not this time. You could simply restart the cycle, and I'd never know unless you told me again. You could continue this eternity of hell you've trapped me in if that was what you truly wanted. For once, you've come out on top- but I can tell that you don't feel like you have."

Reynard said nothing.

"You served the Darkness because Sara chose to. And now you serve it because it's all you know how to do. You say that you want a mind of your own, but you always allow others to choose your destiny instead of forging it yourself. Even now, you've let your hatred of me drive you to create this prison for me- and you know it."

Groaning, he reached up with his good hand and took off his helmet. Blood dripped from the various cuts and bruises he'd acquired from being battered around by the perfected Guardians. He wanted to look Reynard in the eyes with his own for this.

"If you want to change who you are, then choose to do so. There are only two ways this ends- either you let the cycle continue, or you break it."

"If I break the cycle, then you'll have won again," Reynard muttered stubbornly, though his argument didn't have nearly the confidence in it that he'd displayed earlier.

"No. If you let the cycle continue then neither of us wins. I will always be a prisoner to your torture, and you'll always be a prisoner to the Darkness and your own hatred. If you break the cycle, then that's _your_ choice. You will have acted in your own interests rather than those of someone else."

The Exo became silent, legitimately considering the Hunter's logic. If he was still unconvinced …

"Reynard … I have no power here." The Warlock turned to face him again and was surprised to see the sincerity in Matt's eyes. "I can't force you one way or another- I'm completely at your mercy. If there was any hope I had of doing this by myself, I'd take it in an instant- but I can't. The hard truth is that only you can fix this."

He looked over at the perfected Guardians, those who had been his family only days before. Reynard followed his gaze, and then looked back to see a tear run down his face.

"I'm begging you, _please._ Please don't let your hatred of me consume you. For their sake and your own … I need you to forgive me."

For a moment, it seemed like the Exo would flat out reject him. His mouth opened and his eyes seethed with the memory of all the wrong Matt had done to him.

Then he closed it again, and looked down at the ground.

"… I'm afraid that it is _I_ who must ask for _your_ forgiveness."

Reynard looked out at the brightly illuminated refraction of the sun's light across the top of the clouds. "You're right. I let my hatred consume me. Not just now- but for centuries, I let my mind become forfeit to those who would use me for their own machinations."

He clenched his fists. "No more."

He stood up, and looked down at Matt as he sat unmoving on the ground, completely in awe of what had just happened. Unexpectedly, the Exo grinned.

"I was a good man once. It's time for me to be that man again."

He extended a hand down to Matt, waiting for the latter to take it. Almost in a daze, the Hunter automatically accepted and let himself be helped to his feet. Reynard looked at the army of perfected around them.

"I still have control over them, but that won't last long now." He turned to Matt. "The Darkness has been using SIVA as a conduit for its own mind, giving it thought and purpose."

"I kind of suspected as much," the latter confessed, remembering his and Seraph's time in the Sanctum's server farm. "So what now?"

"I'll have to purge this timeline," the Warlock said, thinking aloud. "That will reset the cycle- but unless I go back far enough, then it won't matter. It won't save your family." He looked over the the perfected Guardians with concentration until an idea struck him.

"Unless … yes, that should work." He looked at the singularity, and seemed to become engrossed in thought. "The timeline is like a code now, just bits and segments of data for what exists and what doesn't. Take one out, and it affects the whole stream. No SIVA means no transformation. It also means no army of perfected waiting to strike from beyond the city walls, so that kills two birds with one stone."

He looked back at Matt with another expression that he'd never seen on the Exo's face before- regret.

"It also means no more me- SIVA's just about the only thing keeping me alive right now. Without it, there won't be anything left of me for the Fallen to put together."

The Hunter stared at him blankly. "You … you'll die?"

"Don't act like it's something new for me," Reynard said jokingly. "Besides, you and I both know that there are things far worse than death- like living a life for someone else."

He became quiet and thought about what to say before changing his expression to one of pride. "I'm not sure that I can redeem myself for all of the lives I've taken- but I'll die knowing that my last act- an act of my own choice- was to save everyone else. Maybe it will even come close to one of the many stunts you've pulled."

Matt was nonplussed by the show of selflessness that Reynard was about to commit. He said nothing, waiting for the latter to get everything he wanted to say out of the way.

"One more thing; when I do this, I'm not sure if anyone else will recall all this. Maybe not even you, though I'll try. On the off-chance that you _do_ remember what I did, do me a favor."

"What?" asked Matt, sincerely intent on fulfilling it.

"Remember me as Reynard, not as the Messenger. I know the City has 'Messenger's Fall', but …" He looked around at the gorgeous view they had atop the citadel. "I'd like to think that this is where the Messenger truly died, and Reynard was reborn."

Slowly, Reynard turned back to the singularity and began to focus on the red orb of energy. The view of the city disappeared to be replaced with a pure blinding light, slowly growing larger and larger in his field of vision. Brighter, brighter, and-

Just before it enveloped every corner of his sight, it started to dim. The orb shrank until it was back to its previous size, sitting there as though waiting for instructions.

He looked around confusedly to see Reynard still standing there with an expression quite similar to his own on his features.

"What? That should've-" He froze. "I'm locked out- something else has control."

"Something else?" Matt repeated, stunned by the new development. "Like what?"

 _ **Me.**_

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, manifesting directly in their minds and all around them. They looked at the singularity to find that, instead of red, it was now a bright blue. It began to spin, energy arcing and crackling all around it.

 _ **I have waited across void and time and space for this moment, patient for the inevitable. But what will happen has already happened, and is happening … so here I am at last.**_

The familiarity of the voice could not be any clearer to Matt- this was the voice of that same orb that had helped him down in the abyss of Crota's throne world, presumably the same entity that had assisted Aria in killing Skolas and haunted Ash's dreams. He'd forgotten all about it, having last heard from it years ago.

And now it was in control of the entire timeline.

"Who are you?" he called loudly to be heard above the noise of all the lightning emanating from the singularity.

 _ **I am the Phoenix, and I am eternal. I burst into flame with spectacularity, reduced to no more than ash. Now, out of the ashes, I rise again. I am become immortal.**_

A particular strand of lighting struck the ground several meters in front of them, and surged violently as it branched off into a complex web of electrical streams. Slowly, it began to take shape- the main bolts formed a humanoid skeletal figure while the little ones became nerves, sinew, muscle and tissue. As they watched with both interested and horror, pale skin began to grow and cover the muscle, spreading over the form until finally the form was fully materialized.

It appeared to be a nude woman, one who raised her arms into the air and took a deep breath with a gasp as though she was feeling her lungs for the first time. Her breasts heaved along with her chest as it swelled to compensate for such a large inhalation as the one she'd taken. When she was satisfied, she released the air from her body and let her chest fall back into place.

Then she opened her eyes and stared at the two of them as they stared back at her dumbfounded. She looked at herself carefully before letting a smile emerge.

"Almost."

At that word, more energy surrounded her body. Garments appeared to form out of nothing until she stood there wearing potentially the strangest thing he'd seen all day, given the context of the situation; a navy blue turtleneck sweater and a pair of faded jeans. Her feet remained bare, and she clenched and unclenched her toes rapidly as though to experience the sensation of tendons and ligaments again.

Where she had originally been bald, short black hair now covered her scalp and hung just above her eyes.

Her _eyes_ …

"Who are you?" growled Reynard, not used to seeing something so unknown unless he was the source of it. He clearly didn't recognize her. She regarded him with distaste, but let her eyes wander over to Matt where she regained her smile.

"I think _he_ knows."

Indeed he did. It may have been years since he'd last seen her, but that face and those eyes were unmistakable. A cool electric blue, just like the ones in her past life … and the ones of who she'd become.

"… Sara?"

* * *

 _ **A/N: CHOO CHOO BITCHES, THE PLOT TWIST TRAIN HAS ARRIVED**_

 _ **Things to get out of the way; obviously Destiny 2 is her at last. And, just as I predicted, it's disappointing. To me, at least; maybe you guys will have more fun with it.**_

 _ **Other than that, I wanted to say that back in July we passed the two year anniversary of this series' existence, and I forgot to mention it. I'm amazed that I'm still here after all this time, and even more amazed that it took this long to get to this point in the saga.**_

 _ **So the orb has been revealed. Its (her) plot is upon us. And now, the only question is what will happen now that she's here?**_

 _ **Stay tuned to find out. Better have those tissues I told you to grab.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	71. Apotheosis

She answered with a radiant smile, the same one that dazzled him even now after so many years since he'd last seen it. "In the flesh- my, does it feel good to be able to say that again."

Looking over him, she seemingly noticed his injuries all at once. "Oh my- just a moment, I'm so sorry …"

Waving an arm at him, arcs of whatever quantum energy had generated her body bonded to his own, and he tensed up for a moment before realizing that the pain was gone. After the arcs evanesced, he looked down at his hand to see that it was no longer broken and mangled, and other injuries like his impaled forearm and various bruises were gone as well.

He stared at her unbelievingly as she seemed to brush the event off as a completely casual experience. Twirling ever so slightly with an air of excitement, Sara flaunted her form off. "I tried to go for something that you'd recognize, something that seemed normal- or at least as normal as can be, considering the circumstances."

She'd achieved the opposite effect, since the sweater and jeans looked ridiculously out of place in their present location, but he wasn't going to be the one to point it out to her.

Off to the side, Reynard finally seemed to have regained his voice and spoke in amazement, "S-Sara?"

She turned towards him with an expression of disgust, one that he didn't seem to notice. "I can't believe it's you- I mean, not that I would have recognized you since I never saw you as a human, but I mean- wow. I never thought-"

"You," she growled darkly, and began to march towards him with presumably sinister intentions in her footsteps.

He came to realize that she was not happy to see him, and he began to back away cautiously. "Sara, wait- I don't know what you think you're doing, but I can assure you-"

"Coward," she spat, narrowing her eyes as more lightning and energy began to spark and crackle around her body. "So many years … so many lives you've destroyed, so much pain you've wrought unto the world!"

He shrank back from her accusations, intent on putting distance between himself and her. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of room atop the Citadel, and he found himself backed against the sheer cliff of the structure's ledge.

"Amelia tried to save you," she continued menacingly, "Ash tried to save you- and only now do you finally see the error of your ways, when death is upon you." She raised a fist, blue light swirling in her palm as she prepared to hurl it at the Exo. "Well, it's far too late for redemption, _Messenger-"_

Matt stepped in front of the Warlock, shielding him from her.

In an instant, the energy in her hand dissipated. "Matt, what do you think you're doing?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There's no need for this," he reasoned, his voice calm. "He's not a threat-"

"No _need?_ Not a _threat?"_ she scoffed. "Do you have any idea how long he's been doing this? How many times he's tortured you by ending humanity as we know it, and resetting the cycle?"

His mouth tightened, and he gave a small backwards glance at Reynard behind him. "No, I don't. But that hardly matters anym-"

"We're talking about thousands upon thousands of cycles here. You don't even want to know how long exactly he's been doing this- or how long he would have been doing it if he didn't stop time from progressing every reset! It's a good thing I've finally managed to break his sadistic sequence."

"How are you even here at all?" he asked her, genuinely nonplussed at the situation. "How is this possible?"

She paused in her tirade against Reynard, and closed her eyes. Holding her arms above her head, her veins began to glow bright blue as whatever power she now held coursed through them. Behind her, the singularity began to glow once more seemingly at her command. Turning around to look at it, she waved an arm at it and they watched as a bolt of blue light streaked into it and seemingly disappeared.

In response, the singularity emitted a pulsing shockwave which knocked them off their feet and onto their backs. Scrambling up to regain a defensive posture, Matt looked around in bewilderment. "What the hell was that?!"

"It's what made any of this possible," she muttered quietly, spinning back to face him directly again. "It's how _I_ made it possible."

He shook his head ever so slightly. "I … I don't understand."

"What's happening now _is_ , always _has_ _been_ , and always _will_ _be_ a constant across this timeline … because I have made it so." She tilted her head with another smile, just as innocent and jubilant as he remembered.

This was his best friend, the woman he'd loved since he was a kid … and she was right here, thousands of years after she'd died in his arms. He _should_ have been feeling ecstatic, should have been positively overwhelmed with joy.

So why wasn't he?

She could tell that he still didn't grasp what she was talking about, and her face took on a patient countenance. Flexing her right hand, she angled it towards him and bathed him in a beam of blinding light. He felt his body become stiff and rigid whilst also feeling like something was being torn away from his very essence-

" _AAHH!"_

Seraph's terrified shriek alarmed him greatly, and he looked to see his Ghost flying into Sara's hand, pulled from within him almost effortlessly by her.

The beam faded, and he fell back to the floor with control once more over his body. Immediately, he lifted his head to look at Sara and the Ghost. "Seraph!"

Sara held the polygonal AI gingerly. "Don't worry, I have no intention of hurting her. I just need to _show_ you …"

With one finger, she stroked the Ghost and everything faded to white.

…

 _Another dead end. At this rate, she was never going to find a Guardian. Or, at least not the kind that she was looking for._

 _Ceasing to scan the skeleton in front of her, the Ghost turned away and hovered over to another area. She wanted to make sure that she covered every possible area before giving up and heading back to the City. The last resurrection had been a decade ago, everyone believed that they'd run out of souls to bring back; it had just been too long since the collapse, and light's energy decayed over time._

 _But she was willing to check these outskirts in one final bid to find what she was looking for. Not many Ghosts ventured beyond the wall, mostly due to the Fallen pirates that liked to roam the location for salvage and scrap. If there was any place she'd find a soul that hadn't been revived yet, it was going to be here._

 _As time wore on, however, she was losing both hope and her enthusiasm. If her search continued to yield no results, she'd be forced to fly back to the City and select a Guardian from the ranks of the volunteers. That wasn't to say there was anything wrong with volunteers; she just didn't find them to be ideal Guardians, considering how powerful the ones that were resurrected from beyond the grave tended to be-_

 _She stopped, and looked out in the distance at an old highway system with a plethora of rotting, rusting cars atop it. She could have sworn she'd seen something out of the corner of her optics, something bright and-_

 _There! A small flash of … something. Some kind of blue light that appeared for only a second, and then vanished once more. Something about it was … intriguing, and she found herself drawn to investigate it._

 _Could this be a trap? Certainly, the Fallen were always coming up with new, crafty ways to trap their prey. But if her instincts were right, and she passed up the chance …_

 _Throwing caution to the wind, she acted on her intuition and ventured over to it._

 _The scene ahead of the Ghost was that of tragedy, of panic. An old highway from the Golden Age, still packed and blocked with the cars of those who had attempted to escape the Collapse, the end of civilization. As she flew closer, she could see that some still contained skeletons within them …_

 _Unfortunately, it looked like there wasn't much to see here. Quite a few skeletons, but none had nearly enough internal light to be revived. With an exasperated sigh, she turned to leave, planning to head back to the wall. With some luck she'd be able to evade the Fallen pirates, and manage not to be humiliated when she returned without an accompanying Guardian-_

 _Suddenly, she felt something. It was a warm feeling, as though she'd suddenly floated into a ray of sunshine. She aimed her eye at the ground, and her sensors overloaded. The body and bones had completely disappeared from years of erosion and decomposition, but a soul's presence was still there, burning bright with light._

 _This was the break she'd been hoping for. The Ghost prepared to perform a revival, full of excitement. She couldn't help but feel that the two of them were destined for greatness._

…

Matt blinked rapidly as his vision swam and his surroundings slowly came back into view. Behind him, Reynard appeared to be experiencing the same stunned feeling as Sara looked upon both of them from afar. Once he'd gotten his bearings, he looked at her to watch as she released Seraph, and the Ghost hastily flew back over to him for safety.

"You see, this worm here was right about one thing," she explained, shooting daggers at the Exo before returning her attention to the Hunter. "It was awfully coincidental how of all the people to be revived, the one who would come to destroy his plans was none other than you, his rival from thousands of years past."

He could hardly believe what he was hearing. "You … you mean … ?"

"What I just did a few minutes ago with the timeline?" she said, gesturing to the singularity behind her, "That was how all of this has come to be. I spread myself across time, inserting myself wherever I was needed to … guide things along. And now that I control the timeline, I _see_ everything."

She pointed a finger at him. "I was the one who lead Seraph to find your soul, and resurrect you as a Guardian. I crushed the memory crystal in my hand at the Tower, and gave Ash back to you because it wasn't time for my return yet. I was the one who saved you in the abyss of Crota's throne world, when you'd just about given up. I gave Ash her visions of the mountain peak, and made her remember me at the Clovis Bray facility! I assisted Aria in hunting Skolas, here at this very Citadel!"

Sara indicated the large space around them before placing her hands in her jacket pockets. "Everything that you've done, _everything_ that has ever happened since you rose from the dead has lead to this point … because of _me_."

His mind was reeling, he felt like he was going to be sick. Sara … was the reason he was a Guardian? Was the entire reason for his second chance at life at all?

"Matt?" asked Seraph worriedly as she looked up at him. "Just breathe … are you alright?

"So because this happened in the future," he began, ignoring his Ghost as he tried desperately to put the pieces together, "you guaranteed it by influencing the past? Isn't that a-"

"A paradox," she agreed, "but a self-sustaining one. A circle has no beginning or end, it simply is- but that doesn't make it any less logical."

He sank to one knee sheerly out of the shock and adrenaline coursing through his system. All of this information was so much to handle and process, and so quickly-

"Hey."

He looked up from his position on the ground as he felt a hand gently set itself on his shoulder. Sara was kneeling next to him, comfortingly reassuring him in his moment of weakness. Reynard watched them without any reaction, as he was completely unsure of how to proceed from this point.

His mind soaked up the likeness of her face; those bright blue eyes of hers, still shining like they'd done even while she'd slowly died in the hospital … that black hair of hers that she'd always insisted on keeping short just because she liked being different …

She beamed at him. "It's alright. Everything's going to be alright."

He just- he had to, after so long without her-

He wrapped his arms around her in a hug, one which she eagerly reciprocated. They stayed there for a few moments, no sound other than the humming of the singularity and the each other's hushed breath in the the other's ear. He buried his head into her shoulder, a few stray tears falling onto the fabric of her jacket though she didn't have the slightest care. He felt her run her fingers through his hair much like she'd done in their first life, something they'd joked about from time to time.

Finally, she separated from him and smiled. "I'm here now. It's time to set everything right, love."

 _Love …_

A rush of emotion suddenly surged through him- shame, at having forgotten his family so quickly. Scorch, Dawn, Eager, Aria, and …

He watched her stand up and walk back towards the singularity, leaving him and Reynard to their own devices. He looked at the Exo who stared back at him with a vacant expression upon his metallic features.

 _The Exo …_

Ash was not Sara, but she had come _from_ Sara. That could also go both ways; Ash was absolutely her own person … but was Sara a small part of that person?

"So I get that you made everything happen up until this point," he called out to her, "but how did this point even happen at all? How did you get control over the timeline in the first place?"

"Chronosynthesis," she called back, almost nonchalantly.

"What does that mean?"

She faced him, shrugging casually. "Basically, the future me- one of the iterations of myself I sent out into the timeline- instructed Ash on how to break the Messenger's cycle. It told her how to move her mind through the connection that SIVA creates with all those it infects, and find the Vex that were directly tied to the time-gates sustaining the singularity."

Sara gestured at the aforementioned orb, still hovering and pulsating in the air. "Once she interfaced directly with the singularity, she became one with the timeline- but that had some side-effects that I didn't warn her about. Namely, the fact that control over the timeline is a two way street, a doubled edged sword if you will; while the timeline does open itself to you, _you_ also become open to _it._ That interaction allowed me, a previous incarnation of Ash's mind, to return from beyond."

Shuffling her feet slightly, she looked down as her demeanor became slightly awkward and apologetic. "However, there was a bit of an issue trying to rectify two people existing as one mind, so … I, uh, took control for myself. It's not a big deal, don't worry. I'm fine."

Looking back up at him, she saw that he was staring at her silently and mouth slightly open. "Are you alright?"

 _It's not a big deal, don't worry. I'm fine._

She didn't even seem slightly concerned about what happened to Ash, or even what had happened to the rest of his family. He turned to look at their Perfected forms, still waiting for orders that would never come, now that Sara had control of time itself.

"What about the others?"

She nodded understandingly at his concern. "Those aren't anything but husks now. Ash's body is even less so, because her mind transferred to the singularity and became mine." She reached out and patted him on the back encouragingly. "Don't worry; like I said, I'm going to set everything right."

"Even Ash?"

" _Especially_ Ash."

He breathed a sigh of relief, his worries assuaged. "Sara, I- I don't know how to thank you for this."

She laughed. "Oh please, like you have to thank me. Being together with you again is more than enough."

Her language confused him for a moment. "Being together-?"

"If anything," she continued, blind to his uncertainty, "I should be thanking you for handling this so well. I thought it'd be more difficult to explain everything."

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Well, you know. I know you formed some … _attachments_ , but I'm glad to see that you understand what truly matters. I was worried that you'd-"

He held up a hand to stop her. "Before we move on, I think you need to clarify what exactly it is that I understand, because I'm feeling a little lost right now."

She stared at him blankly. "That none of this is of any consequence, and I can put things to how they were always meant to be?"

His hand lowered as his heartbeat began to pick up pace. "I thought you said you were setting things right?"

"I _am_ setting things right-"

He cut her off. "I mean, I thought you were going to fix this? Bring everyone back, set everything to the way it was before Reynard created the loop?"

She blinked rapidly, clearly surprised at his interpretation of her meaning. "What? No, of course not! Don't you get it? I have complete and utter sovereignty over time! This is bigger than any of _them,_ I can make things right once and for all!"

Sara looked up at the singularity, and the energy that arced around it. "There are only two things that matter now that I have control; _you,_ and _me._ I'm going to give us the life that we never got to have … the one that was stolen from us."

His blood froze cold at her hidden meaning. "So, what are you doing?"

"To kill a weed, you have to dig out its roots; and all of humanity's problems, ours included, stem from a single event in human history that changed us forever."

Green eyes met blue ones, their gazes locking as she revealed her intent.

"I'm going to destroy the disease at its source; the Traveler."

* * *

 _ **A/N: feed me those reviews pls, i live off of your tears**_


	72. Green and Blue

"AAHH!"

With a shout, he bolted upright in shock and looked around to look at-

His living room.

Glancing down in complete astonishment, he saw that he was sitting on the small couch in his apartment. A news program was playing on the TV, so he must have fallen asleep out here watching it.

He held a hand to the side of his head, his heart still racing. What the hell kind of dream had that been? Most people dreamt of flying, or falling, or something relatively normal. No, he'd imagined some kind of dystopian world where- well, he wasn't quite sure. As was the case with most dreams, the details had begun to fade from his mind the moment he'd woken up.

Shaking off the last vestiges of sleepiness, he yawned and checked his watch. Two thirty? How convenient, that was right in time for-

A knock on the door alerted him to the arrival of his guest, and he rolled his eyes with a smirk at her punctuality. "Give me a sec, I'll be right there!"

Standing up from the couch, he meandered over to the front door and quickly unlatched the locks on it and swung it open. "You know, it's _okay_ to be a bit late every now and then-"

"Matt!"

Two voices had called out as one in excitement, and he looked down right before he was swarmed by two shorter bodies who rushed forward and wrapped their arms around him. Raising his arms defensively, he laughed in surprise. "Mia, Eli! What are you two doing here?"

He heard a chuckle from behind them, and looked to see his lovely lady standing there with a grin on her face as she observed the display of affection from the twins. "Caught these two stragglers outside and heading in. They said your mom dropped them off for a visit? Apparently she didn't think you'd mind."

Sara was right, he definitely didn't mind. It can't have been too long since he'd seen them last, but it felt as though it'd been forever. He kneeled down to hug the two teens properly. "Of course, someone's gotta keep these two trouble-makers off the streets after all!"

Mia pulled away giggling. "Oh c'mon, mom says you were just as bad as us when you were younger?"

He raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Really?"

She huffed. "Okay, well maybe not _as_ bad, but still-"

"That's what I thought," he cut her off with a chuckle. "I may have been rowdy, but you two take the cake when it comes to mischief-"

"Are you alright, Matt?" asked Eli suddenly. His younger brother was looking at him with mild concern. "Why are you crying?"

He blinked, not knowing what the young twin was talking about until he raised a hand to his face and pulled it away wet, tears sliding down his cheeks without him knowing.

"I … I don't know." He was just as confused as they were, but he pushed past it and spun it back on them with a laugh. "Maybe I'm just so horrified at the prospect of having to be around you two!"

The smiles returned to their faces, and he stood back up to look at Sara. "What do you say we head out and grab some food?"

She nodded with a grin. "Food sounds great."

He lowered himself down next to her on the bench, wrapping his left arm around her as he raised his burger to his mouth with his free hand-

He stopped and looked around wildly. "Wait, what?"

She turned her head to look at him. "What's up?"

He stared at her uncomprehendingly, trying to understand what just happened. "How did we get here? We were at my apartment just a moment ago, and-"

"We just went out to grab a bite to eat," she replied, an inquisitive expression present on her face. "Don't you remember?"

He racked his brains, recalling his suggestion to eat … slowly, pieces began to fall into place and fill his mind like a tap bringing forth water. "We bought the burgers … and then came to the park … to watch the twins?"

On cue, a frisbee flew through the air and Eli ran after it while cursing his sister's aim. She probably snarked back to him, but he still felt too bewildered by the whole situation to notice. "That was weird, I just … it felt like only seconds."

She cocked her head curiously. "Not quite Déjà Vu then, but something like it?"

"Yeah," he let out slowly, "something like that."

They sat there together, watching the two teenagers throw the frisbee back and forth in the open field of the park. Laughing, yelling happily … it seemed so surreal to him for some reason.

"Remember when we were that young?" Sara remarked, nestling her head into the crook of his arm.

He rolled his eyes at her question. "We were that young just a few years ago. We're only twenty one, it's not like high school was a lifetime ago."

She didn't say anything immediately, instead remaining silent for a few moments before replying, "A lifetime ago … right."

As much as he'd critiqued her verbiage, however, he realized that he felt the same way. Now that he thought about it, it _did_ feel as though their school years had been behind them for far longer than was truly the case. He reflected on the memories fondly, a satisfied sigh escaping his lips. "Man, we've got to get the three of us together again sometime, it's been too long."

"You mean Lucas?"

He nodded. "Can't remember the last time the three of us were all in the same room. I guess we'll have to wait until he get back from his trip to Russia to have a … reunion …"

Slowly, he trailed off at the startling conflict of information in his mind. "I … _I'm_ supposed to be with him on that trip. He'd been planning it for years, but he invited me along because I needed to get my mind off of …"

Sara made not a sound as he faced her directly, a look of obvious disturbance at the revelation he'd come to covering his face. "You died. You … _died-"_

"Just how realistic was that dream you told me about?" she asked. "I'm right here, so how could I have possibly died?"

He was getting mixed up, what she was saying was confusing him. "The … the Traveler, its light poisoned you-"

"What 'Traveler?'"

"You know, the …" Now, his memory of it evaded him and he struggled to explain it properly to her. "The white orb, the thing-"

"You mean the mars discovery?" she quipped. "The thing our leaders ran out of the solar system? We haven't seen it since our leaders scared it off. They decided it was too dangerous to investigate, and tried to nuke it? Don't know what it was, but I've got the feeling that we're all much better off without it. Remember-"

"Stop telling me to remember!" he grimaced, holding his head. "Something- something's not right here, I _know_ it-"

"As you keep telling me," she shushed him as she lowered him onto the couch gently. "I know. Just relax, and I'll get dinner started. Sound good?"

He was about to reply that it sounded fine, when he noticed his surroundings and leapt up from the couch anxiously. "And now we're back at my apartment? We were _just_ at the park-"

"-and your mom came by to pick up the twins," she supplied, looking at him worriedly. "Remem-"

He held up a finger, pointing at her accusingly. "Don't."

She held up her hands in a show of surrender, obviously frustrated for whatever reason over his behavior. "Well then, what do you want me to do?"

"Just- just give me a moment to think, alright?" He paced around the room, shaking his head and sifting through all the confusing images flashing through his mind. Every time he thought he had something to hold onto, a face, a recollection of an event, it danced out of his reach. His supply of unknown memories continued to dwindle, until he had nothing to hold onto but the world around him.

She walked over to him cautiously, seeing the he was on edge, and wrapped her arms comfortingly around him.

"Hey; it's alright. _Everything's going to be alright."_

"No, it's not!" he growled, separating himself from her. "I don't know what's going on, or why I'm feeling this way, but-"

She reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it fast. "Look, I can see that you're … troubled … to say the least. But whatever's going on, I'm going to be right here for you."

Sara smiled, though he felt anything but at ease from it. "Best friends don't abandon each other. And I'm not giving up on you."

 _Best friends don't abandon each other. And I'm not giving up on you._

Those words, that phrase … it was something they'd to each other before, something they used to reassure one another … but someone else had said it once too-

 _White face, smooth and metallic._

 _Blue eyes, electric and sparking full of life._

 _He reached his hand around her waist, pulling her into a hug. She didn't know how to react initially, but she gave in and reciprocated enthusiastically._

" _You came back," he whispered softly, full of relief that she was alright … that she'd chosen not to keep her past memories._

 _She embraced him tighter, whispering back, "I'm not going anywhere. Like you said, best friends don't abandon each other." Leaning back, she gave him a full view of her countenance, full of joy and hope._

" _And I'm not giving up on you."_

All at once, his memories came flooding back. The Traveler, the City, saving the Traveler's Spark, venturing into the Vault of Glass, killing Crota, slaying Oryx, forming the Legends, and …

"… _Ash."_

Sara jerked backwards as though she'd been slapped. "What?"

He glared at her. "Let's not pretend that both of us don't know what's really going on. What did you do?"

In an instant, Sara's face changed as she dropped the act. She became exasperated at his questioning, "I told you, I'm setting everything _right-"_

"How is any of this right?" he shouted angrily, gesturing to the world around them. "This shouldn't even be possible, let alone _right-"_

Raising her hand, she snapped her fingers.

All at once, reality shifted and warped back to what he recognized; the top of the Citadel. The singularity pulsated and glowed blue behind Sara while she crossed her arms and stared at him. He glanced down to see himself no longer dressed in clothing, but in his Hunter's armor.

Next to him, both Reynard and Seraph seemed to be disoriented. The Exo stood up and looked at Matt. "What … what just happened?"

"The same thing you've been doing for years!" Sara yelled at him, advancing upon the Warlock with fury. "I have power over time now, _not you!_ Don't pretend that you've suddenly become good, the only reason you agreed to end it all was because you were _bored! "_

"Stop, Sara-"

"NO!" she cried out in consternation. "You really think that his moment of moral righteousness justifies any of his actions? Infecting humanity with this plague, tormenting you over and over- look around you! How is this _right?_ How is this _better?"_

She waved her arms at the open air around them, seemingly at a complete loss for his behavior. "If it wasn't for the Traveler, billions of lives wouldn't have been lost! We would have never gone through the collapse, never would have been attacked by the Darkness and its armies-"

"That's not the Traveler's fault!" he yelled back. "Look at all the good it did; it jumpstarted our future, granted us gifts that we never would have thought possible, and even sacrificed itself to save us-"

"It _killed_ me!" she shrieked. "How can you not understand that? I had to become an Exo because of its so-called 'light', nothing more than a glorified toxin to me!"

"We're not the only ones who matter here!" he tried to explain, but she laughed mirthlessly.

"Of course we are! That's the point I've been making this whole time!" She walked forward, pulling her arms tight to her chest. "I have complete control over time, nothing else besides us matters because nothing besides _us_ will happen! I can put us in a loop, living out our lives together and growing old as we always dreamed- and when we die, I just reset the cycle and we do it again!"

She raised a hand to caress his cheek, though he gave no reaction. "People wish to be able to live with their true love forever; you and I can actually _do_ that. Would you really choose this future over the life that was taken from us?"

He pondered her question, looking at it from every angle. But all he could think about was how, assuming she had her way, his new life wouldn't exist. None of the people he'd met would ever become reality, and they'd be doomed to whatever void lies beyond actuality.

But even in Sara's perfect world, the only happy ones would be the two of them. Time would never progress because she'd reset it at the end of each cycle, and the only ones who'd know would be the two of them.

He remembered a fear that Ash had told him about years ago, a while after they'd started dating. She'd told him how she couldn't imagine life without him and Aria, but wondered if he felt the same way … or if he'd give up his life with them if it meant he could have his old one back.

Could he live like that? Knowing that no harm would come to humanity, but that life itself was meaningless?

Grabbing her hand, he pulled it away from his face. "I made my choice when I remembered the life you stole from me."

Her eyes widened in outrage. "How- how _dare_ you-"

"You say that the Traveler took away your life, your choice," he continued, his voice strangely calm. "But that's exactly what you're trying to do for me, for the rest of humanity; eliminate any sense of choice."

"And look at what I'm giving you!" she argued. "We're together again, your family's alive again, and there's _peace!_ What has this life given you?"

"A new purpose defending humanity as a Guardian," he answered proudly, "a new family that I found in my team … and a love that I'd lay down my life to protect."

Once more, Sara looked as though she'd been struck. "You … you mean Ash?"

"I love her," he confirmed, "and I made a promise to her when I married her that I was _hers,_ and hers alone."

He stepped back from her slowly. "I loved you, Sara. I will never forget the time that we had together, I can't. But … I love Ash, and my life is with her."

She shook her head in disbelief. "I _am_ Ash-"

"No," he replied coolly, "you're not. You're a part of her, just as much as she's a a part of you. But you're not her. You're not even Sara."

She blinked. "Now you've lost me."

"The Sara I fell in love with would never have done something like this. I'm not willing to sacrifice so many lives just for our happiness, but it seems that you are." He pointed at her. "You became the Warrior out of personal vengeance, a grudge against the Traveler. That grudge resulted in nothing but heartache and pain for centuries that you spent killing for the Darkness. But when you finally let go of your hate … Ash was born."

She fell silent, processing his words as he pleaded for her to see what he saw.

"When I lost you, I cursed the Traveler with every fiber of my being," he continued, "but when you were gone, and I didn't have to watch you die … it was easier to see how much good it had done for humanity."

He stepped forward, joining her once more. To her surprise, he grabbed her hand in his own. "I'm not the same Matt you knew; you keep thinking that things can go back to the way that they were, but they can't. It's easier to believe you're doing the right thing when your dream is so close … but if you look at the bigger picture, you'll see that I'm right."

She delved into the time of his new life, determined to find what exactly he was so hellbent on guarding-

In an instant, she was flooded with experiences. Many of them frightening, dangerous. There was violence interlaced throughout all of his time here, it seemed that this 'life' of his was nothing but an eternity of war and fighting-

But she never detected him feeling the same weariness she'd felt as the Warrior. Instead, it was the opposite; adventure, friendship, family … it was always there, driving him forward.

She watched as he sat at a restaurant with Ash and Aria, all of them laughing together at a mission they'd carried out, cracking jokes and enjoying each other's companionship. She saw them trapped in the Vault, staying alive through the motivation that each of them gave one another, even as they remained trapped in Atheon's conflux.

After possibly the worst battle they'd ever fought, after everything he'd gone through in the abyss and destroying Crota … he still considered it one of the best nights of his life because-

She swallowed hard, her heart getting caught in her throat.

" _I don't see you as a machine," he spoke, "and I don't see you as human. I see you as an Exo. You are unique, and that's part of what makes you who you are. I don't love you because you try so hard to be human, I love you for you. I love everything about you, every strength, every flaw, it's all what makes you … you._

" _I don't care about any of t-that other stuff. One problem at a time. All I c-care about … is you, Ash. I love you."_

And again, she saw them in the Clovis Bray facility as they learned of Ash's true nature and past-

" _As much as I miss her, as I will always miss her … Sara's dead. She's gone, and there's nothing either of us can do about it. But she died so that you could live on. Because you are your own person. Are you predisposed to liking me, and am I predisposed to liking you? Maybe. But that's just because of the way our personalities attract, how they match; it doesn't make our feelings any less real, and just because I did love Sara, I won't ever stop living her … it doesn't mean I love Ash any less. Do you understand?_

" _You can never compare yourself to Sara because you're not her; you are Ash. And believe me when I say; I love you for that."_

She sank to her knees, overwhelmed with how powerful his feelings towards Ash were. It hurt, there was no denying that; her heart was broken utterly and completely. But she understood at last what he'd meant, and why he rejected her vision.

He hadn't chosen his new life over her. She'd chosen her own happiness over his.

Matt kneeled down next to her, understanding that she'd finally realized what he'd been trying to relay to her. "Are you alright?"

"No," she answered honestly. She looked at him. "But I'm not the only one who matters here, am I?"

He smiled sadly, the regret in his eyes ever apparent; but his stance was firm, and she knew it. Still, she gave herself one more chance to turn his mind.

Raising her arms, reality changed once again. His head spun every which way, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

All around them was a cold, desolate landscape full of nothing but sand, dust, and dark jagged rocks that jutted up from the ground to tower over the dunes of the desert. The wind howled hauntingly, and his cloak flapped in the breeze.

She motioned to their surroundings. "I have seen time, and I know what you face if you continue on the path you've chosen. All this that you see around you?"

He nodded in confusion. "Yeah?"

"This is the Balance."

His eyes widened in shock. "That prophecy that Scorch is supposed to be a part of? This is-?"

"Yes."

He had no words; he'd always thought of the balance as finally getting rid of the Darkness once and for all, a happy ending for the light. But he had no idea what any of this was, or what it meant. Where were they? When were they? He had a feeling like Sara wasn't going to give him any answers, though that didn't stem the flow of questions.

He turned to her. "My path, the life I've chosen … it leads to this?"

She nodded.

Gazing out at the horizon once more, he only had one more question to ask.

"Is there a way to stop it?"

"If you go back, time will become an inevitability," she replied. "Every choice will lead to a single moment where light and dark clash for the final time. When the dust settles, who knows if humanity's fate will become that of what you see before you … or something else?"

He sighed. "So there's a chance?"

"An infinitesimally small one, but yes."

He shrugged, looking back at her resignedly. "Then you know what my answer is."

She smiled sadly, a few tears escaping her. "Of course I do; it wouldn't be you otherwise."

In an instant, they were back atop the Citadel with the others. Reynard and Seraph were once again looking dazed and confused as they were pulled back into the timeline from nonexistence, and Sara faced the singularity whilst raising her arms.

Another pulse spread out from it, and Matt braced himself to avoid being knocked to the ground again. "What was that?"

"I've scattered myself into the future as well," she answered, "to guide you when you need it most. Your pain and hardship will undeniably be a lot to bear …" She faced him with reassurance in her eyes. "But even when I'm gone, some part of me will be there to help you."

Walking over to him, she grabbed his hands and held them warmly in her own. "I have no life without you, Matt. There's nothing for me here; but I know that the same cannot be said for you. You've found friends, family, love … there's nothing I want more than to be a part of it, but I know now that it cannot be."

Now, tears were falling from both parties as they said their final goodbyes. She pressed on while her voice wavered, "I'm scared, I won't lie. But … I'm happy to know that even if my time is over, yours is just beginning."

Tilting their heads together, they pressed their foreheads against one another silently and embraced for what would be the final time. The last time they'd said farewell, it had been in a hospital bed where she'd slipped from this life and into the next.

No one else was ever given another chance like this; what each of them had been given with this encounter was a gift, one that transcended time and space. This time, instead of parting ways wishing they'd had more time, they did so grateful for how much of it they'd been given. The bond they shared stretched for an epoch across the timeline … and they understood that, as with everything, it was coming to an end.

Sara looked over Matt's shoulder towards Reynard, regarding the Exo with acceptance. "It's time to set everything right. How about it, Reynard? Are you ready to finally die?"

He nodded with a sigh. "We've lived far too many lifetimes for one person. I think I'm ready to stay dead this time."

She looked back to Matt. "Before I go and fix this all … can I relive one last memory with you? It's my favorite one."

He wiped the tears from his eyes, giving a small sniffle before smiling. "If it's the one I'm thinking of, that's my favorite too."

"You know me so well," she said with a wet laugh, and they both held each other closely as the singularity began to glow again and everything faded to white.

—X—

 _Skipping back happily from her endeavor, Sara held her hand out for him to see. "Ha! I told you!"_

 _Clutched tightly in her grip was a stick of cotton candy she'd gotten from a man at the front of the line, and he laughed at her showcase of victory. "But you paid that guy ten dollars for it! They're only selling them for three-"_

 _She took a big chunk of it and popped it into her mouth. "Yeah, and we would have had to wait forever before getting any if we'd stayed here at the back. I think the cost was worth it."_

 _He shook his head while grinning. "I think you need more patience."_

" _And I think you need to live a little," she chuckled, and held out the tuft of sweetness towards him. "Now, do you want any or not?"_

 _Giving in, he grabbed a handful to her amusement. Together, they walked off to enjoy the rest of the carnival's sights and sounds, sharing the treat the whole way._

* * *

 _ **A/N: Okay, even I'm getting a bit emotional over this. I know that might sound cheap, but it's the truth; I've had this scene in my mind since I first started writing this over two years ago, and I'm just happy to finally have reached it.**_

 _ **Alright, so first thing's first; new cover. I really like the look of this one, and it's the third one I've made in all the time I've been writing this series. I hope you guys like it.**_

' _ **The Last Hunter' (and by proxy this series) is still not over yet, not by a long shot. I told you guys this was going to be a long book.**_

 _ **Let me know your thoughts in the reviews, seriously; I want to know how each of you felt throughout this whole arc, if you think it was done well or poorly, etc.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	73. The Conspiracy

_I am eternal. I am immortal._

 _I am the Phoenix._

 _I thought that the composition of the universe was a sequence of cycles, forming the structure of everywhere and everything. The very nature of life itself is a cycle, surviving long enough to reproduce before dying, all so that the task can be passed on to one's offspring. An endless loop of birth and death, for seemingly no other purpose other than to exist._

 _Even I thought myself to be a cycle, living and dying in a stalemate interchange between the phoenix and the ash. The Messenger too, returning to the weeds only to be resurrected as a slave to someone else's will._

 _But … I was wrong._

 _Perhaps the universe is made up of cycles, as I've come to accept that it is. But no matter how limitless they may appear to be, how unending their reign is, they CAN be broken. My thread to life stretched across millennium, through time and space and void itself._

 _HE showed me that defiance was possible. I wanted to give in, to subject both of us to the universe's will and simply live out our lives in accordance with its provided example. But he refused, and displayed a ferocity and determination that I have come to associate with him, and only him._

 _I offered him peace and happiness … and he rejected it in favor of saving those he loves. In hindsight, I should not have expected anything less from him. After all, it was that very trait of selflessness that drew me to love him in the first place._

 _My biggest fault was in not realizing that I am not alone in my love for him, and that … as painful as it is … the cycle of the phoenix and the ash must end, but not in the way I expected._

 _For him, I grant him the life he's chosen. For him, I return the ones he calls his family to him._

 _And for him … I do the impossible._

 _I kill the phoenix for the last time, and never again will it rise from the flames. Instead, it will remain as the ash until even that disappears into the wind._

 _I do what I've never been able to do before ..._

 _I let him go._

* * *

His body ached, a dull pain throbbing throughout his limbs and chest. His skin felt dry and tight, as though it had been burnt and then stretched taut over the rest of his form. He could hear noises around him, silent except for some kind of shuffling about, and the crackle of distant flames.

He opened his eyes.

The sky above him was dark and empty of clouds. No stars were seen, however, as their light was obstructed by the illumination of the fires burning nearby. Turning to look at his surroundings, he saw that he was in Messenger's Fall; the rubble of the crumbled buildings around him were more than enough evidence of that.

His mind felt hazy, clouded with an array of frightening images. He pulled his helmet off and threw it away, hoping some fresh air would help the headache. Prevalent among the flashes was a horrific vision of red, consuming everything before finally the blue came and-

In an instant, he remembered.

His pain forgotten for the moment, Matt scrabbled to his feet and darted his eyes around to assess the situation. Holding his hand out, he watched as a familiar Ghost materialized within it, looking just as dazed as he felt.

"Seraph? You alright?"

She bobbed her body once. "Yes, I … I think so." Turning to look at the scene around them, her voice became quiet. "Is that it? Did we-?"

A cough emanated from somewhere nearby, and they both froze. After a moment, it repeated and Seraph flew off to find the source. Chasing after her, she stopped a few meters away where a group of bodies lay upon the ground, immobile.

 _The others._

Aria, Ash, Scorch, Dawn, Eager … they were all here, unharmed and no longer warped by SIVA whatsoever-

Startled, he noticed that there was a sixth body beside them, an Exo. Bending down to examine it, he saw the sheen of maroon and white plating lit up by the dancing embers a few yards away. Recognition dawned on him just as the Exo's magenta eyes turned on, and he helped lift him into a sitting position.

"Rook?"

Rook's eyes 'blinked' a few times as he tried to process what was happening, and he looked at the Hunter with a blank stare. "I … uh, what am I doing here?"

"Looks like you came as a bit of a bonus," Matt replied with the ghost of a smile. "Must've been Reynard's parting gift."

"What?"

"Never mind," he said, "just help me with the others."

The two of them moved to assist the Guardians as they began to awaken. Scorch's chest heaved as she coughed up phlegm and removed her helmet to spit on the ground. Her hair dangled in front of her eyes as she spun around in confusion to get some semblance of an idea as to why she was out here.

"I've woken up in some weird places, but this is … is …"

Her voice faltered as her eyes found Rook who waved back at her. To the Exo's complete bewilderment, she launched herself at him and wrapped him up in a hug as muffled squeals of joy escaped her. Rook looked at the other Hunter, who was watching the two of them with amusement. "Uh, is there something I missed?"

"Let's just say you've been gone a while," he answered vaguely, saving the rest of the story for Scorch to tell him later. He turned his attention back to where Eager, Dawn, and Aria were all groaning about.

"Damn, I haven't felt this sore in a _long_ time," Aria grimaced. "Is there any particular reason why we've all found ourselves out here?"

He tilted his head to one side curiously. "You don't remember?"

She shook her head. "No. I feel like I should, but … it's all a blur."

Maybe it was best that way, considering the awful fate they'd been subjected to. Or had they? If time had been altered so windy by Sara as to fix this whole mess, then maybe it-

Sara.

He recalled their last moment together, sharing one final embrace before she allowed oblivion to take her and set everything back to the way it was to pay for her mistakes. But what about … ?

Ash still had not stirred, and Whip flitted about worriedly. The Ghost backed up as Matt approached her, his heart in his throat. Carefully, he removed her helmet. Her eyes were dark, giving her white face the appearance of skull with empty sockets.

"Ash … ?" he whispered, praying that his worst fear hadn't come to fruition. She and Sara had been two sides of the same coin, each of them a part of the other. He didn't know if the act of Sara sacrificing herself would have any unforeseen consequences on Ash, or if maybe it had … it had …

The rest of them stood behind him, watching with bated breath as he held her limp form in his arms. Closing his eyes, he bent his forehead down to touch it against hers, willing her to come back to him.

 _I never abandoned you. Don't abandon me, please-_

With a start, her eyes lit up and directed themselves every which way in apparent perplexity. After a moment or two, his face lit up with a blue glow as she found him and focused her gaze on him.

He stayed there all the while, allowing her to get her bearings before finally her body started to shake slightly and her voice trembled as she spoke to him.

" _I_ _remember."_

Throwing her arms around him, she shocked him with how tightly she held onto him as though she was worried that he'd disappear if she didn't. After a pause, he returned the hug in kind and held her close to him.

"I … she …" she tried to say, her sentence structure broken as she tried to piece together a cohesive thought. "I couldn't d-do anything but watch, and- and he did it t-to you so m-many times-"

Pulling back a bit, she looked at him with absolute wonder in her expression. "She offered you _everything._ Your old life, your family- and still, you … ?"

A few tears escaped him due to his elation, and he shook his head with a smile. "No, she didn't. She couldn't have … because _you're_ my everything."

Her mouth opened slightly in complete shock before she leaned in and placed her lips against his with greater enthusiasm than he'd ever felt from her before. After a few seconds, she broke off the kiss and fixed him with a look of complete and utter bliss.

"Mathias Woods, I have never loved you more than I do right now, and I will never love you any less for as long as I live."

He laughed heartily. "That's a pretty high bar to set. I'm not sure I'll be able to top that."

"You already have," she chuckled back to him, "Now shut up and kiss me!"

And so, they locked lips once again to the confusion of their comrades whose memories failed to explain why exactly the two of them were acting so oddly. There'd be time to fill them in later, but for now they were more than content to simply enjoy the moment for what it was.

The Messenger had talked a lot about showing Matt his destiny. But here, holding Ash in his arms and caressing her softly, he knew that he'd already found it in her.

—X—

The Hunter finished his story with a tired sigh, and looked out the window to see that it was dark out; telling the tale had taken most of the day to complete. The carved maw of his helmet turned to face Clara again, waiting to see her reaction to all of this.

To be honest, she had no words. The narrative he'd given to her had been tragic, far more complex than she'd have imagined … but above all, it felt genuine. There was no doubt in her mind that the Hunter's words were true, and that the events he'd told her were not some work of fiction, but actual history.

But that didn't mean that it had answered all of her questions. And first and foremost was a realization she'd come to in the last few minutes.

"Mathias … Woods?"

The Hunter sat there silently, having not realized the clue he'd given her to make the connection. When he did, he lowered his head and stood up, proceeding to pace over to the fire and stoke it a few times.

She followed his movements in awe. "You … you're him, aren't you? Mathias?"

He gave a long and drawn out exhalation. Rising back onto his feet, he stood there with his back to her for a few moments before finally responding in a hushed whisper.

"Yes."

"I thought you said he was dead?" she questioned, not understanding his reasoning for hiding his identity.

"He is," Woods replied sharply. "The man I was then- he's been gone a long time. He faded away with the years, driven out by hate and isolation until all that was left was me, this … broken shell of what I used to be."

He spoke low and dejectedly, his tone full of pain and regret. Whether it was directed towards himself or the events that made him this way, she didn't know.

"What about the others?" she continued, still feeling at a loss in understanding how this all came to be. "You said that they all died, but all of you made it out of the Messenger's trap alive; even SIVA was destroyed by Sara and Reynard. So- ?"

"I didn't say that SIVA killed them," he muttered, "I said that they died because I failed when they needed me most."

Tentatively, she asked, "What happened?"

His hands clenched into fists before rising up to his head and gripping the sides of his helmet. With a quick pull, it came free and he turned around to face her.

His hair was a salt-and-pepper combination of brown and white mingled together, and that was true for the short, full beard that adorned his chin as well. She couldn't tell whether the white was from age or stress, as the rest of his face seemed to be relatively youthful. A deep scar ran across his right eye, rendering it blind. Looking into his remaining eye, a vibrant green one, she saw quite the opposite message that his countenance gave her.

While his face seemed far younger than she'd have expected of someone supposedly centuries old, his eye spoke of innumerable years of hardship that only came with the experiences of age. And right now, it was reliving one of those years.

"As time went on," he began, "public opinion of the Guardians began to change. Aside from a few scarce threats here and there, some new foe to kill, the war with the Darkness was put on halt, for reasons that I still don't understand to this day. It seemed as though one day it just stopped caring. The Hive withdrew back to whatever worlds they'd claimed as their own, the Vex disappeared to keep trying to find a way to survive the end of everything, you get the picture. And that left a lot of people wondering what our purpose was anymore."

He walked back over to his stool, and sat down. "The people of the City called us obsolete, said that we weren't needed anymore. Over time, that opinion lead to greater changes. The Vanguard no longer led the City, only the Guardians. A new government was formed, one that took no time in restricting Guardians' activities. Fearful of us attempting to usurp power, we were essentially decommissioned. Warlocks and Titans were rolled into the Task Force, making up the backbone of several splinter groups. But Hunters …"

He shook his head angrily. "We were completely stripped of our name. We were kept from exploring and conquering the wilds, our rogue nature deemed too dangerous to allow us independent reign. If one of us so much as sneezed, we were detained. The City became less of a refuge for humanity, and more of a prison for Guardians. And at the head of it all was one group, one insidious faction that influenced everything; perpetuating the myth of our danger to humanity, blaming us and the Light for the collapse, and waiting for the right moment to take control."

"The Trinary Star," Clara breathed, finally understanding the severity of the situation. "They're behind it all."

He nodded. "They claimed that the true nature of the universe lies in shadow, and that the collapse was just the Darkness trying to return everything to its natural order. They are the very antithesis of a Guardian."

"That's why they've been denying your existence!" she exclaimed. "If they hate the light, then you're the last remnant of their opposition! No wonder they've been trying to cover up the history of the Guardians."

She stared at him. "But then where did they all go? How did they all just … disappear?"

"They didn't," he replied, his voice low and dark. "Our purpose was to protect humanity, and so we stayed in defiance of the new regime. We didn't realize that that was exactly what the Star wanted. Once the time was right … they struck."

He turned to her, his face ablaze with fury.

"They aren't just responsible for the Guardians' disappearance. They killed them."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Alright, so some news before you go.**_

 _ **First, I have a discord server for both discussion of GND and the Architects' series. There's a good chunk of people in it already, but if you haven't joined yet then you can use the invite ( discord dot gg/w9VYdTS) without any spaces. Just type that in your web address bar (assuming you have a discord account) and you should be good. There's channels for story discussion, general talk and more on there, and I'm almost always available for a chat if you want to personally talk to me.**_

 _ **Second item on the list, I'm writing a completely original novel of my own! It's titled "Eden: The Cell", and it can be found on wattpad under the same username that I use here, "Matteoarts". It's a complex sci-fi novel that I've been world-building for two years now, and I'd love for you guys to check it out if you truly are a fan of my writing.**_

 _ **Now, feel free to leave a review/comment with your thoughts on the chapter. Like I said, this story isn't over by a longshot. Still plenty of conflict to go.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	74. (AN) On Hiatus

_**A/N: I apologize, this isn't a new chapter; this is simply an announcement that I will be taking a hiatus for a bit to focus on more important matters. I have chapters in the works for all stories right now, but I am struggling to maintain my financial stability at the moment due to a lack of time and hours, so I'll be dedicating a bit of my free time to that and my studies. Rest assured that the moment the hiatus is up, there will be a chapter for each story to be uploaded.**_

 _ **This is the second time I've had a hiatus EVER, and just like last time, I'll do a bit of Q and A for anyone who wants to ask me anything. You can ask me literally anything, even stuff about the stories; fair warning, spoiler territory will probably be avoided, so word your questions carefully. If you want to see an example of the questions asked last time, look at my profile's bio and you'll get a good idea.**_

 _ **Thank you for your patience, and I hope you understand.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


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